Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - Reversing the gains in the previous session, the Australian stock market is trading sharply lower on Tuesday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,300 level, with weakness across most sectors led by energy and technology stocks. Gold miner stocks were the only bright spot. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 120.00 points or 1.44 percent to 8,224.40, after hitting a low of 8,215.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 119.80 points or 1.40 percent to 8,484.30. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is slipping almost 5 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are declining more than 1 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is losing almost 2 percent each, while Woodside Energy and Santos are down almost 1 percent each. Beach energy is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among tech stocks, Zip is losing more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is declining almost 3 percent, Afterpay owner Block is edging down 0.5 percent, Xero is down more than 1 percent and Appen is slipping almost 2 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources and Resolute Mining are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Newmont and Northern Star resources are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each. Evolution Mining is down almost 1 percent.

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

In other news, shares in Audinate Group sank more than 9 percent after the software maker warned it will not meet its full-year gross profit target, saying "headwinds" are expected to continue into Q2.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.666 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday following recent strength on Wall Street. While the Dow showed a notable pullback, the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to end the day in positive territory.

The Dow slid 344.31 points or 0.8 percent to 42,931.60 and the S&P 500 dipped 10.69 points or 0.2 percent to 5,853.98, but the Nasdaq rose 50.45 points or 0.3 percent to 18,540.01.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both slumped by 1.0 percent.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Monday on possible disruptions in supplies due to escalating tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended up by $1.34 or 1.94 percent at $70.56 a barrel.