Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly lower on Monday after opening in the green, reversing the slight gains in the previous session, following he broadly negative cues from European markets and lack of cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling below the 8,600.00 level, with weakness in gold miners and financial stocks and a mixed performance most other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 5.10 points or 0.06 percent to 8,597.90, after touching a high of 8,617.00 and a low of 8,594.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 6.10 points or 0.07 percent to 8,835.80. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, Mineral Resources is gaining almost 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.4 percent. Rio Tinto and BHP Group are flat.

Oil stocks are mixed. Origin Energy is surging more than 5 percent and Santos is edging up 0.1 percent, while Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent and Beach energy is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Appen and Zip are losing almost 1 percent each. Xero is flat.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources is tumbling 5.5 percent, Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent and Newmont is edging down 0.1 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Resolute Mining are slipping almost 1 percent each.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Westpac and ANZ Banking are declining almost 1 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.654 on Monday.

On Wall Street, the markets were closed for Independence Day on Friday after closing higher on Thursday.

The major European markets closed mostly lower on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 settled flat, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 closed lower by 0.61 percent and 0.75 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices slumped on Friday on easing geopolitical concerns in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was down $0.51 or 0.76 percent to finish at $66.49 per barrel.