Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is significantly lower on Monday, giving up the slight gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,000 mark, following the broadly negative cues from global markets on Friday, with weakness across most sectors, led by technology stocks, which tracked their peers on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 67.70 points or 0.95 percent to 7,046.80, after hitting a low of 7,031.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 71.40 points or 0.97 percent to 7,287.30. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Friday.

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

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

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global and Appen are declining almost 2 percent each, while Zip is slipping more than 3 percent, Afterpay owner Block is plunging more than 6 percent and Xero is losing more than 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower, Gold Road Resources and Northern Star Resources are declining almost 3 percent each, while Evolution Mining is down more than 1 percent, Newcrest Mining is losing almost 4 percent and Resolute Mining are slipping almost 2 percent.

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

In other news, shares in Abdri are plummeting almost 17 percent after the cement maker reported a drop in profit for the first half and also slashed its dividend.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.688 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial move back to the downside during trading on Friday after ending Thursday's choppy session modestly higher. The major averages came under pressure early in the session and remained firmly negative throughout the day.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels in the final hour of trading but remained firmly negative. The Dow slid 292.30 points or 0.9 percent to 33,706.74, the Nasdaq plunged 260.12 points or 2 percent to 12,705.22 and the S&P 500 tumbled 55.26 points or 1.3 percent to 4,228.48.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. The German DAX Index slumped by 1.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.9 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices settled modestly higher on Friday but posted a weekly loss due to concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid fears of a possible recession in Europe. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September rose $0.27 or 0.3 percent at $90.77 a barrel.