Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is sharply lower on Monday, giving up the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling to nearly the 7,200 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets on Friday, with weakness across most sectors, led by miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 84.50 points or 1.16 percent to 7,222.50, after hitting a low of 7,193.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 94.20 points or 1.25 percent to 7,418.50. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are losing almost 3 percent each, while BHP Group is declining more than 3 percent and ineral Resources is sliding 5.5 percent. nd OZ Minerals is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is declining more than 2 percent and Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy is adding almost 1 percent. Woodside Energy is edging up 0.5 percent after reporting that full-year net profit more than trebled.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are losing more than 2 percent each, while WiseTech Global is declining more than 3 percent each, Zip is slipping almost 3 percent and Appen is plummeting more than 14 percent after reporting a loss for fiscal 2022 and flaging a weal fiscal 2023. It also scrapped dividend.

Gold miners are lower. Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are losing almost 1 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is declining almost 3 percent and Resolute Mining is slipping more than 4 percent. Newcrest Mining is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging down 0.1 0.2 percent each, while Westpac is edging up 0.1 percent. National Australia Bank is flat. In other news, shares in Downer EDI are plummeting 18 percent after the engineering firm reported a 21 percent drop in half-year net profit. It also cup full-year profit guidance and confirmed it overstated earnings in the previous three financial years.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.673 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower in early trading on Friday and remained firmly negative throughout the session. With the steep drop on the day, the Dow fell to a two-month closing low, while the S&P 500 dropped to its lowest closing level in over a month.

The major averages all posted steep losses on the day. The Dow slumped 336.99 points or 1.0 percent to 32,816.92, the Nasdaq plunged 195.46 points or 1.7 percent to 11,394.94 and the S&P 500 tumbled 42.28 points or 1.1 percent to 3,970.04.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index plunged by 1.7 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.

Crude oil futures showed a big turnaround over the course of the trading day on Friday after coming under pressure early in the session. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery jumped $0.93 or 1.2 percent to $76.32 after falling as low as $74.09 a barrel in early trading.