Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - Giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, the Australian stock market is slightly lower on Tuesday, following the mostly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying a tad below the 7,900 level, with losses in technology stocks almost offset by gains in mining and energy stocks amid a spike in commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 3.00 points or 0.04 percent to 7,893.90, after touching an all-time high of 7,910.50 and a low of 7,867.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 3.90 points or 0.05 percent to 8,149.80. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday, prior to the holidays on Monday and Tuesday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining more than 1 percent, BHP Group is adding almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is edging up 0.1 percent, while Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is gaining almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is up almost 1 percent and Beach energy is adding more than 3 percent, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent, Zip is slipping almost 6 percent, Afterpay owner Block is declining more than 2 percent and Xero is edging down 0.4 percent, while Appen is gaining almost 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining more than 3 percent, Newmont is adding almost 5 percent, Northern Star resources is advancing more than 2 percent, Resolute Mining is up almost 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is rising almost 3 percent.

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

In other news, shares in Austal are jumping 11 percent after confirming it received $2.825 cash per Austal share takeover offer from South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean.

Shares in Orora are tumbling 13 percent after the bottlemaker trimmed its FY24 earnings expectations as a weak market for its products continues to hamper sales. In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to contract in March, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Judo Bank revealed on Tuesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 47.3. That's down from 47.8 in February, and it moved further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Members of the Reserve Bank of Australia's Monetary Policy Board felt that the country's economic recovery was tracking mostly as expected, minutes from the central bank's March 19 policy meeting revealed on Tuesday.

At the meeting, the RBA kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4.35 percent for the third straight meeting. The policy board added that the economic outlook and the interest rate path are uncertain as inflation remains high, although it is moderating.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.649 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Monday after failing to sustain an early move to the upside. The Dow and the S&P 500 gave back ground after ending last Thursday's trading at record closing highs, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to end the day in positive territory.

While the Nasdaq inched up 17.37 points or 0.1 percent to 16,396.83, the Dow slid 240.52 points or 0.6 percent to 39,566.85 and the S&P 500 dipped 10.58 points or 0.2 percent to 5,243.77.

Meanwhile, the major European markets were all closed on the day for Easter Monday.

Crude oil prices moved higher Monday amid concerns about a possible drop in supplies following reports of an Israeli strike near the Iranian embassy in Damascus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.54 or 0.65 percent at $83.71 a barrel.