Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is sharply lower on Friday, giving up the slight gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,200 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by losses in financial, technology and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 117.30 points or 1.60 percent to 7,193.80, after hitting a low of 7,186.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 117.60 points or 1.57 percent to 7,396.80. Australian markets ended slightly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing almost 2 percent each, while Fortescue Metals down more than 1 percent and Mineral Resources is sliding almost 4 percent. OZ Minerals is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is losing more than 1 percent, Santos is down almost 2 percent and Woodside Energy is declining more than 2 percent, while Origin Energy is gaining more than 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is declining almost 5 percent, WiseTech Global is down more than 1 percent and Zip is losing almost 2 percent, while Appen is gaining more than 3 percent and Xero is edging up 0.1 percent. Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank Westpac and National Australia Bank are all losing almost 3 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 4 percent and Newcrest Mining is up almost 2 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Evolution Mining are adding more than 3 percent each. Resolute Mining is flat.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.659 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading session on Thursday after failing to sustain an early move to upside. The major averages renewed the sell-off seen on Tuesday, with the Dow tumbling to its lowest closing level in four months.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but still posted steep losses. The Dow slumped 543.54 points or 1.7 percent to 32,254.86, the Nasdaq plummeted 237.65 points or 2.1 percent to 11,338.35 and the S&P 500 plunged 73.69 points or 1.9 percent at 3,918.32.

The major European markets also moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. While the German DAX Index closed nearly unchanged, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices retreated on Thursday, extending losses to a third straight day amid concerns that aggressive policy tightening by the Federal Reserve could slow global economic growth and result in a drop in energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $0.94 or 1.2 percent at $75.72 a barrel.