Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading significantly lower on Tuesday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,200 level, with stocks across sectors trading weak led by mining and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 61.10 points or 0.74 percent to 8,173.90, after hitting a low of 8,173.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 59.80 points or 0.70 percent to 8,436.20. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is declining more than 1 percent, while Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are losing almost 1 percent each. Mineral Resources is edging up 0.5 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Beach energy is edging down 0.4 percent, while Santos and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each. Origin Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 2 percent, Zip is declining more than 1 percent, WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent and Xero is edging down 0.3 percent, while Appen is edging up 0.4 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Gold Road Resources is losing almost 1 percent, Newmont is declining more than 2 percent, while Northern Star resources and Evolution Mining are down more than 1 percent each. Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are losing almost 1 percent each, while, Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.5 percent each.

In other news, shares in Mesoblast are soaring almost 10 percent after the recent approval of one of the biotechnology company's mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy in the U.S. buy the FDA.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.622 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks regained some ground over the course of the trading day on Monday after moving sharply lower early in the session, but remained firmly in negative territory. The major averages added to the steep losses posted last Friday.

The Dow climbed off its worst levels after tumbling by more than 700 points in early trading but still ended the day down 418.48 points or 1.0 percent at 42,573.73. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also dove 235.25 points or 1.2 percent to 19,486.78 and the S&P 500 slumped 63.90 points or 1.1 percent to 5,906.94.

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

Crude oil prices rose to a five-week high on Monday, continuing to benefit from recent data showing a larger than expected drop in crude inventories in the U.S. Expectations of increased demand from China contributed as well to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for February rose 0.6 percent to $70.99 a barrel.