Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is currently trading significantly lower on Monday, giving up the slight gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 7,800.00 level, with weakness in mining and energy stocks partially offset by gains in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 48.70 points or 0.63 percent to 7,747.30, after hitting a low of 7,747.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 48.50 points or 0.60 percent to 7,991.40. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are edging down 0.2 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is losing more than 1 percent. Mineral Resources are adding more than 1 percent. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is losing more than 1 percent, Santos is down almost 1 percent and Woodside Energy is declining more than 2 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global is gaining almost 2 percent and Zip is adding 1.5 percent, while Afterpay owner Block and Xero are edging up 0.4 percent each. Appen is declining more than 4 percent.

Gold miners are lower. Gold Road Resources is losing more than 3 percent, Evolution Mining is declining almost 4 percent, Northern Star Resources is down 1.5 percent and Newmont slipping more than 2 percent, while Resolute Mining is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while ANZ Bankingis edging down 0.3 percent.

In other news, shares in Cettire are plummeting 40 percent as the online luxury fashion retailer continues to be hit by a downturn in the online luxury industry in the fourth quarter.

Shares in Myer are soaring 17 percent after the upscale department store chain announced that it was exploring a merger with Premier Investment's apparel business, which includes Just Jeans and Jay Jays.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.663 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stock showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Friday following the mixed performance seen in the previous sessions. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Dow inched up 15.57 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 39,150.33, the Nasdaq dipped 32.23 points or 0.2 percent to 17,689.36 and the S&P 500 dipped 8.55 points or 0.2 percent to 5,464.62.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.6 percent, the German DAX Index declined by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices settled lower on Friday, weighed down by concerns about the outlook for global oil demand and a firm greenback. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for July shed $0.56 or 0.7 percent at $80.73 a barrel for the week but gained 3 percent for the week.