Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading sharply lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,750 level, with weakness in mining and technology stocks partially offset by gains in financial and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 99.80 points or 1.13 percent to 8,719.60, after hitting a low of 8,717.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 102.50 points or 1.14 percent to 8,905.80. Australian stocks closed significantly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is losing more than 3 percent and BHP Group is declining more than 4 percent, while Fortescue and Mineral Resources are slipping more than 2 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Santos is adding more than 1 percent and Beach energy is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay and Square-owner Block and Xero are edging down 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while WiseTech Global is declining almost 3 percent, Zip is sliding almost 5 percent and Appen is losing more than 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while National Australia Bank is gaining more than 1 percent. Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.4 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources, Resolute Mining Genesis Minerals and Evolution Mining are all declining more than 4 percent each, while Newmont is losing more than 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.717 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday, extending the downward move seen over the past several sessions. With the continued weakness, the Dow and S&P 500 dropped to their lowest closing levels in over a month.

The major averages all finished the day firmly in negative territory. The Dow fell 316.56 points or 0.6 percent to 52,064.10, the Nasdaq slid 171.62 points or 0.7 percent to 26,081.72 and the S&P 500 declined 44.66 points or 0.6 percent to 7,591.70.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slid by 0.8 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index declined by 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices skyrocketed on Thursday as supply disruption concerns increased following the recent U.S.-Iran re-escalation. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $6.81 or 7.09 percent at $102.86 per barrel.