Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is sharply lower on Monday, giving up most of the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 6,700 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, dragged by weakness across most sectors, led by energy and mining stocks amid tumbling commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 107.90 points or 1.60 percent to 6,650.90, after hitting a low of 6,645.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 110.20 points or 1.59 percent to 6,838.40. Australian stocks closed sharply higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, Fortescue Metals, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are losing more than 3 percent each, while OZ Minerals and Mineral Resources are declining almost 3 percent each.

Oil stocks are lower. Beach energy, Santos and Woodside Energy are slipping more than 3 percent each, while Origin Energy is down more than 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is plunging almost 7 percent, Zip is slipping more than 3 percent and WiseTech Global is edging down 0.4 percent, while Xero and Appen are down almost 1 percent each.

Gold miners are weak, Gold Road Resources is sliding almost 6 percent, Newcrest Mining is losing almost 3 percent and Northern Star Resources is declining more than 3 percent, while Resolute Mining and Evolution Mining are declining almost 5 percent each.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Adbri are plunging more than 19 percent after the cement manufacturer announced its CEO has stepped down following a sharp drop in profit margins.

Costa Group slid more than 12 percent after announcing a profit downgrade on its citrus business due to adverse weather.

Health insurer Medibank was down almost 4 percent after reporting a ransomware attack last week.

Shares in Star Entertainment Group are in a trading halt after New South Wales Independent Casino Commission announced that the company's Sydney casino licence would be suspended from Friday.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.622 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial pullback over the course of the trading session on Friday. The major averages all posted steep losses, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunging to its lowest closing level in over two years.

The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the day near their lows of the session after ending Thursday's wild ride sharply higher. The Dow slumped 403.89 points or 1.3 percent to 29,634.83, the Nasdaq dove 327.76 points or 3.1 percent to 10,321.39 and the S&P 500 tumbled 86.84 points or 2.4 percent to 3,583.07.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.9 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Friday, weighed down by concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid the rising possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $3.50 or 3.9 percent at $85.61 a barrel.