Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market sharply higher on Tuesday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,000 mark, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain spooked that a U.S. banking debacle may follow last week's collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, even though banking regulators have allayed all such fears.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 135.80 points or 1.91 percent to 6,973.00, after hitting a low of 6,950.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 143.10 points or 1.96 percent to 7,167.90. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent, OZ Minerals is edging down 0.1 percent and Mineral Resources is declining 3.5 percent, while Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are down more than 1 percent each.

Oil stocks are lower. Beach energy is losing almost 5 percent, Origin Energy is edging down 0.3 percent, Santos is declining more than 3 percent and Woodside Energy is slipping almost 4 percent. Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Zip are losing almost 4 percent each, while Xero, Appen and WiseTech Global are declining more than 2 percent each.

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

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 2 percent and National Australia Bank is slipping almost 3 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are declining more than 2 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.665 on Tuesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks recovered after an early setback on Monday and ended on a mixed note, but shares from the technology space outperformed, spending much of the day's session in positive territory. Concerns over the fallout of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank rendered the mood quite bearish at the start.

Among the major averages, the Dow, which plunged to 31,624.87 in early trades, ended with a loss of 90.50 points or 0.28 percent at 31,819.14. The S&P 500 ended 5.83 points or 0.15% lower at 3,855.76, recovering from 3,808.86. The Nasdaq ended higher by 49.96 points or 0.45 percent at 11,188.84, more than 200 points off the day's low of 10,982.80.

The major European markets moved sharply to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 lost 2.56 percent, Germany's DAX dropped 2.86 percent and France's CAC 40 fell 2.85 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Monday amid worries that a U.S. banking debacle may follow last week's collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures settled lower by $1.88 or 2.4 percent at $74.80 a barrel.