Australian Markets Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling to near the 8,900.00 level, with weakness in mining, energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 42.60 points or 0.48 percent to 8,904.30, after hitting a low of 8,898.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 41.20 points or 0.45 percent to 9,127.50. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is declining almost 2 percent, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, Fortescue is down almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is slipping more than 4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy and Origin Energy is losing more than 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is declining more than 1 percent and Santos is down almost 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 2 percent and Zip is advancing almost 4 percent, while WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent, Appen is slipping more than 1 percent and Xero is edging down 0.3 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent, while Genesis Minerals, Resolute Mining and Evolution Mining are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each. Newmont is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.5 percent. National Australia Bank is declining almost 3 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.715 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Friday extending the strong upward move seen over the past several sessions. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 once again reached new record closing highs, while the Dow reached its best closing level in almost two months.

The major averages ended the day off their highs of the session but still posted strong gains. The Dow surged 868.71 points or 1.8 percent to 49,447.43, the Nasdaq shot up 365.78 points or 1.5 percent to 24,468.48 and the S&P 500 jumped 84.78 points or 1.2 percent to 7,126.06.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged by 2.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices nosedived on Friday amid easing supply-related concerns on news of the temporary reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was down $11.17 or 10.58 percent at $84.11 per barrel.