Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - Giving up some of the gains in the previous three sessions, the Australian stock market is sharply lower in post-holiday trading on Tuesday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 7,800 level, with weakness across most sectors led by gold miners amid tumbling bullion prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 87.30 points or 1.11 percent to 7,772.70, after hitting a low of 7,768.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 88.80 points or 1.10 percent to 8,024.00. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Friday ahead of the holiday on Monday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Santos is edging up 0.1 percent. Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Appen and Zip are gaining almost 1 percent each, while WiseTech Global and Xero are edging down 0.4 percent each. Afterpay owner Block is declining almost 3 percent. Gold miners are mostly lower. Gold Road Resources, Resolute Mining and Evolution Mining are plunging almost 7 percent each, while Newmont is losing almost 3 percent and Northern Star resources is declining more than 6 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are losing more than 1 percent each, while National Australia and ANZ Banking Bank are declining almost 1 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.660 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction during trading on Monday, extending the lackluster performance seen over the two previous sessions. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly higher.

Despite the choppy trading, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs. The Nasdaq climbed 59.40 points or 0.4 percent to 17,192.53, the S&P 500 rose 13.80 points or 0.3 percent to 5,360.79 and the Dow edged up 69.05 points or 0.2 percent to 38868.04.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.3 percent, the German DAX Index dipped by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday amid optimism about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.21 or about 2.9 percent at $77.74 a barrel.