Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is sharply lower on Monday, giving up the gains in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,000 mark, following the broadly negative cues from global markets on Friday, with weakness across all sectors as traders digested US Fed Chair Jerome Powell's highly anticipated remarks at the Jackson Hole economic symposium, which were seen as more hawkish than some had hoped.

Powell said he expects to keep rates at higher levels, and that the bank's efforts to combat inflation will cause "some pain."

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 137.80 points or 1.94 percent to 6,966.30, after hitting a low of 6,959.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 152.50 points or 2.08 percent to 7,193.30. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, Mineral Resources is sliding almost 5 percent, Rio Tinto is slipping almost 2 percent, OZ Minerals is edging down 0.5 percent and Fortescue Metals is declining almost 3 percent after reporting a 40 percent drop in annual profit on weak iron ore prices, despite record shipments.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos, Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are losing more than 2 percent each, while Beach energy is down almost 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Xero and Appen is declining more than 4 percent each, while Zip is sliding almost 7 percent, Afterpay owner Block is plunging almost 8 percent and WiseTech Global is slipping 3.5 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower, Gold Road Resources and Evolution Mining are declining almost 4 percent each, while Newcrest Mining is slipping almost 3 percent, Resolute Mining is sliding 4.5 percent and Northern Star Resources is losing almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are all losing almost 2 percent each.

In other news, shares in A2 Milk are surging more than 8 percent after the infant formula maker posted strong double-digit earnings and sales growth for the full year. It also announced a share buyback.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.686 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower during trading on Friday with traders reacting negatively to remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The major averages more than offset the upward move seen over the two previous sessions, falling to their lowest levels in a month.

The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the session at their worst levels of the day. The Dow plunged 1,008.38 points or 3 percent to 32,283.40, the Nasdaq dove 497.56 points or 3.9 percent to 12,141.71 and the S&P 500 plummeted 141.46 points or 3.4 percent to 4,057.66.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index plunged 2.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday, recovering well following early weakness after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he expects to keep rates at higher levels. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.54 or about 0.6 percent at $93.06 a barrel, rebounding from a low of $91.10.