Australian Markets Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably lower on Tuesday, reversing the slight gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling below the 8,700 level, with weakness in miners, energy and financial stocks partially offset by gains in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 50.90 points or 0.58 percent to 8,699.00, after hitting a low of 8,697.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 45.10 points or 0.51 percent to 8,878.80. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Monday.

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

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

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 2 percent, Xero is adding almost 3 percent, WiseTech Global is advancing more than 2 percent, Appen rising almost 4 percent and Zip is jumping more than 4 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are slipping almost 4 percent each, while Resolute Mining and Newmont are losing almost 3 percent each. Genesis Minerals is declining more than 3 percent.

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

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.713 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant recovery attempt over the course of the trading day after moving sharply lower early in the session on Monday. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day but still closed in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 146.62 points or 0.6 percent at 26,186.41 after tumbling by as much as 1.3 percent early in the day. The S&P 500 also fell 37.00 points or 0.5 percent to 7,619.98, while the Dow dipped 152.09 points or 0.3 percent at 52,421.20.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index declined by 0.8 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and rose by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices jumped on Monday after Saudi Arabia confirmed closing its East-West pipeline following attacks by Houthi militants. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.52 or 1.52 percent at $101.57 per barrel.