Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling below the 8,850.00 level, with weakness across most sectors led by strong losses in gold and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 44.70 points or 0.50 percent to 8,824.40, after hitting a low of 8,799.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 51.30 points or 0.56 percent to 9,113.50. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent, Mineral Resources is declining more than 2 percent and Rio Tinto is edging down 0.4 percent. Fortescue is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Santos is declining almost 2 percent. Origin Energy is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are declining almost 2 percent each, while Appen is tumbling more than 8 percent. Zip is advancing more than 3 percent and Xero is edging up 0.2 percent.

Gold miners are lower. Northern Star Resources is declining almost 6 percent, Evolution Mining is losing more than 4 percent and Resolute Mining is slipping almost 5 percent, while Newmont and Genesis Minerals is tumbling almost 7 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank are gaining almost 1 percent, while, ANZ Banking is adding more than 1 percent. National Australia Bank is edging down 0.5 percent. In other news, shares in GrainCorp are plunging more than 15 percent after slashing its underlying net profit and underlying EBITDA guidance for the full year 2026.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in January, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 52.3. That's up from 51.6 in December and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.697 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Friday but maintained a negative bias throughout the day before eventually closing mostly lower. After recovering from an early sell-off to end Thursday's session mixed, the major averages all finished the day firmly in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way lower, slumping 223.30 points or 0.9 percent to 23,461.82, while the Dow slid 179.09 points or 0.4 percent to 48,892.47 and the S&P 500 fell 29.98 points or 0.4 percent to 6,939.03.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices slid on Friday as the U.S. dollar index moved higher, while the possibility of diplomatic intervention in the U.S.-Iran conflict also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was down $0.22 or 0.34 percent at $65.20 per barrel.