Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading significantly lower on Friday, extending the slight losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 9,100 level, with weakness in mining, financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 73.60 points or 0.80 percent to 9,073.20, after hitting a low of 9,072.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 75.80 points or 0.82 percent to 9,198.40. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday.

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

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

Among tech stocks, Afterpay and Square-owner Block is declining almost 4 percent, Zip is sliding more than 1 percent, Appen is declining more than 2 percent and WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent, while Xero is gaining almost 1 percent after announcing a $1 billion share buyback.

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

Gold miners are weak. Northern Star Resources is losing more than 2 percent, Genesis Minerals is tumbling more than 5 percent, Newmont is slipping almost 3 percent, Evolution Mining is declining almost 2 percent and Resolute Mining is sliding almost 4 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.681 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks recovered from an initial slump but moved back to the downside over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The major averages all finished the day in negative territory, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 partly offsetting Wednesday's strong gains.

After plunging by as much as 1.6 percent in early trading, the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day down 100.09 points or 0.4 percent to 25,366.09. The S&P 500 also fell 26.98 points or 0.4 percent to 7,592.40, while the Dow declined 189.40 points or 0.4 percent to 52,297.09.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside the day. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices spiked on Thursday as supply disruptions concerns resurfaced after U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. is no longer interested in any deal with Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery rose $1.96 or 2.27 percent at $88.49 per barrel.