Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is significantly lower on Tuesday, reversing the slight gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,300 level, with weakness across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 62.90 points or 0.76 percent to 8,245.30, after hitting a low of 8,227.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 65.50 points or 0.77 percent to 8,494.60. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is declining more than 3 percent and Fortescue Metals is down more than 2 percent.

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

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 4 percent after fourth-quarter revenue fell short of analyst forecasts. Xero is down almost 1 percent, WiseTech Global is declining more than 2 percent and Appen is edging down 0.4 percent, while Zip is jumping almost 12 percent after its cash earnings more than doubled amid transactions growth and lower bad debts.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Newmont is losing almost 3 percent, Resolute Mining is down almost 1 percent and Northern Star resources is edging down 0.5 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Evolution Mining are edging up 0.2 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are losing almost 2 percent each, while Westpac is edging down 0.4 percent and ANZ Banking is down more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Viva Energy are tumbling more than 22 percent, after its half-yearly profit fell 20 percent.

Shares in Domino's Pizza are plunging almost 11 percent after the fast-food retailer swung to a loss on heavy restructuring costs.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.634 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw considerable volatility over the course of the trading day on Monday following the significant pullback seen during last Thursday and Friday's session. The major averages showed wild swings back and forth across the unchanged line as the day progressed.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 eventually ended the day firmly in negative territory, but the narrower Dow posted a modest gain. While the Dow inched up 33.19 points or 0.1 percent to 43,461.21, the S&P 500 fell 29.88 points or 0.5 percent to 5,983.25 and the Nasdaq tumbled 237.08 points or 1.2 percent to 19,286.92.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Monday as fresh sanctions by the United States on Iran raised the possibility of a drop in global supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April settled higher by $0.30 at $70.70 a barrel.