Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, the Australian stock market is modestly lower on Tuesday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying above the 7,700 level, with losses gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 15.60 points or 0.20 percent to 7,734.40, after hitting a low of 7,732.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 15.70 points or 0.20 percent to 8,003.70. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Fortescue Metals and BHP Group are edging down 0.4 to 0.5 percent each.

Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Origin Energy and Santos are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each. Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global is edging down 0.5 percent, Xero is losing almost 1 percent and Afterpay owner Block is declining 1.5 percent, while Appen is gaining almost 2 percent. Zip is flat.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Gold Road Resources, Evolution Mining and Northern Star resources are losing more than 1 percent each, while Newmont is edging up 0.1 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and ANZ Banking are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while National Australia Bank is edging up 0.1 percent. Commonwealth Bank is flat.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.661 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Monday following the strong upward move seen last week. The major averages moved to the upside early in the session but spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Nasdaq rose 47.37 points or 0.3 percent to 16,388.24, the S&P 500 edged down 1.26 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,221.42 and the Dow dipped 81.33 points or 0.2 percent to 39,431.51.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved modestly lower on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slipped by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices advanced on Monday amid expectations about the outlook for demand after OPEC decided to extend supply cuts into the second half of the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.86 at $79.12 a barrel.