Australian Market Sharply Lower; Down Nearly 3%

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is currently trading sharply lower on Monday, adding to the sharp losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling almost 3 percent to stay just above the 7,700.00 level, with weakness across all sectors led by energy, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 223.20 points or 2.81 percent to 7,720.00, after hitting a low of 7,707.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 233.60 points or 2.86 percent to 7,936.80. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are losing more than 1 percent each, while BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are declining more than 2 percent each. Oil stocks are weak. Beach energy and Santos are slipping almost 4 percent each, while Woodside Energy is declining 2.5 percent and Origin Energy is losing almost 3 percent.

Among tech stocks, Appen, Xero and WiseTech Global are declining almost 5 percent each, while Afterpay owner Block is plunging more than 9 percent and Zip is sliding almost 9 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Newmont and Evolution Mining are losing almost 4 percent each, while Resolute Mining is declining almost 7 percent, Northern Star Resources is down almost 3 percent and Gold Road Resources is slipping more than 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are losing more than 3 percent each, while Westpac is declining almost 4 percent.

In economic news, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in July, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Judo Bank revealed on Monday with a services PMI score of 50.4. That's down from 51.2 in June, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.650 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stock moved sharply lower during trading on Friday, adding to the steep losses posted during Thursday's session. With the extended sell-off, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped to its lowest closing level in two months and the S&P 500 hit a nearly two-month closing low.

The major averages ended the day off their lows of the session but still firmly negative. The Nasdaq dove 417.98 points or 2.4 percent to 16,776.16, the S&P 500 plunged 100.12 points or 1.8 percent to 5,346.56 and the Dow tumbled 610.71 points or 1.5 percent to 39,737.26.

The major European markets also showed significant moves to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index plunged by 2.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 1.3 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, sliding for a second successive session on rising concerns about the outlook for demand due to slowing growth in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September fell $2.79 or 3.66 percent at $73.52 a barrel.