Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly lower on Friday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 7,800 level, with some weakness in technology and financial stocks partially offset by gains in mining and energy stocks amid a spike in commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 8.10 points or 0.10 percent to 7,761.30, after touching a high of 7,796.90 and a low of 7,753.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 10.00 points or 0.13 percent to 8,002.10. Australian markets ended on a flat note on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is losing 1.5 percent and Mineral Resources is declining almost 5 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos and Beach energy are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is adding almost 1 percent and Woodside Energy is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Appen is losing more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is edging down 0.5 percent and Zip is down almost 2 percent. Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are losing more than 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are down almost 1 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining, Newmont and Northern Star Resources are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Resolute Mining is adding more than 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is surging almost 4 percent.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to contract in June, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from Judo Bank revealed on Friday with a manufacturing PMI score of 47.5. That's down from 49.7 in May and it moves further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI slower to 51.0 in June from 52.5 in May. The composite index came in at 50.6 in May, down from 52.1 in May.

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

On Wall Street, stocks indexes moved in starkly opposite directions during trading on Thursday following a modest move to the upside early in the session. While the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 pulled back off their early highs and into negative territory, the narrower Dow saw continued strength.

The Dow ended the day up 299.90 points or 0.8 percent at a nearly one-month closing high of 39,134.76, but the S&P 500 fell 13.86 points or 0.3 percent to 5,473.17 and the Nasdaq slumped 140.64 points or 0.8 percent to 17,721.59.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved notably higher on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index surged by 1.3 percent, the German DAX Index jumped by 1.0 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices advanced on Thursday after data showed crude inventories in the U.S. fell slightly more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $0.60 at $82.17 a barrel.