Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - Giving up some of the gains in the previous three sessions, the Australian stock market is trading slightly lower on Tuesday, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying a tad above the 8,000 mark, with losses in iron ore miners and energy stocks amid weak commodity prices were nearly offset by gains in technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 7.90 points or 0.10 percent to 8,009.70, after hitting a low of 8,006.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 5.70 points or 0.07 percent to 8,256.70. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Monday.

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

Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy and Santos are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Beach energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Zip is gaining almost 2 percent, WiseTech Global is edging up 0.3 percent and Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 3 percent, while Xero is edging down 0.3 percent. Appen is flat. Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star resources and Newmont are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Evolution Mining is edging up 0.1 percent. Gold Road Resources is losing almost 1 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while National Australia Bank is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.675 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks closed on a firm note on Monday with two of the three major indices moving on to record fresh highs, thanks to strong buying at several counters from across various sectors. Optimism about interest rate cuts by the Fed, and rising prospects of former President Donald Trump winning the upcoming presidential elections rendered the mood positive on Wall Street.

The Dow ended up 210.82 points or 0.53 percent at 40,211.72 after scaling a new high at 40,351.10. The S&P 500, which climbed to a new high of 5,666.94, settled at 5,631.22, gaining 15.87 points or 0.28 percent, while the Nasdaq ended with a gain of 74.12 points or 0.4 percent at 18,472.57, after hitting a high of 18,641.53.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended down 0.85 percent, Germany's DAX dropped 0.84 percent and France's CAC 40 lost 1.19 percent.

Crude oil prices settled lower on Monday, weighed down by weighed down by political uncertainty following an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and weak economic data from China. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for August ended down $0.30 at $81.91 a barrel.