Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading sharply lower on Friday, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,800 level, with weakness in mining, financial and energy stocks partially offset by gains in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 102.60 points or 1.16 percent to 8,775.50, after hitting a low of 8,763.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 100.80 points or 1.11 percent to 9,006.20. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is edging down 0.4 percent, Fortescue is down more than 1 percent, BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is slipping almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are weak. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is down more than 1 percent and Santos is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay and Square-owner Block is surging almost 6 percent on strong results, Appen is gaining almost 2 percent and Xero is edging up 0.2 percent, while WiseTech Global and Zip are losing almost 2 percent each.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is down more than 2 percent and ANZ Banking is losing more than 1 percent, while Westpac and Commonwealth Bank are declining almost 2 percent each. Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources and Genesis Minerals are losing more than 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining is declining almost 2 percent and Newmont is down almost 1 percent. Evolution Mining is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.721 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance early in the session on Thursday but came under pressure over the course of the trading day. The major averages all moved to the downside, although selling remained relatively subdued.

The major averages finished the day off their lows of the session but still in the red. The Dow slid 313.62 points or 0.6 percent to 49,596.97, the S&P 500 fell 28.01 points or 0.4 percent to 7,337.11 and the Nasdaq edged down 32.75 points or 0.1 percent to 25,806.20.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index tumbled 1.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index slumped by 1.2 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices had moved lower as Iran reviews a peace plan offered by the U.S. to end the gulf war but bounced higher again on supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was at $94.76 per barrel.