Australian Market Tumbling

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is sharply lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling to three-month lows below the 6,500 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets on Friday, with a sell-off across most sectors, led by materials and energy stocks amid tumbling commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 119.00 points or 1.81 percent to 6,455.70, after hitting a low of 6,435.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 132.90 points or 1.96 percent to 6,655.80. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and OZ Minerals are losing almost 4 percent each, while Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals are sliding almost 5 percent each. Rio Tinto is declining more than 4 percent and OZ Minerals is up more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are lower. Beach energy is plunging almost 7 percent, Woodside Energy is sliding almost 6 percent, Origin Energy is losing almost 4 percent and Santos is declining more than 5 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is adding more than 1 percent and Xero is edging up 0.2 percent, while Zip is losing almost 1 percent, WiseTech Global is edging down 0.4 percent and Appen is declining almost 2 percent.

Gold miners are lower, Gold Road Resources is plunging more than 7 percent, Evolution Mining is sliding almost 6 percent, Newcrest Mining is declining almost 5 percent, Resolute Mining is slipping more than 6 percent and Northern Star Resources is down more than 5 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are losing more than 1 percent each, while Westpac and ANZ Banking are declining almost 2 percent each.

In other news, shares in Ramsay Health care are slipping almost 5 percent after the hospital operator ceased buyout talks with a KKR-led consortium.

Shares in Syrah Resources are plummeting almost 16 percent after announcing an interruption of operations at its Balama graphite project in Mozambique due to industrial action.

Shares in Costa Group are plunging more than 13 percent on news that it's Managing Director and CEO Sean Hallahan is stepping down.

Shares in Link Administration are sliding almost 10 percent after its proposed acquisition of Dye & Durham by way of a scheme of arrangement was struck down by the court.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.652 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower during trading on Friday, extending the notable downward move seen over the past several sessions. With the steep drop on the day, the Dow dropped to its lowest closing level in over a year, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hit three-month closing lows.

The major averages rebounded from their lows of the session going into the close but continued to post steep losses. The Dow tumbled 486.27 points or 1.6 percent to 29,590.41, the Nasdaq dove 198.88 points or 1.8 percent to 10,867.93 and the S&P 500 plunged 64.76 points or percent to 1.7 percent to 3,693.23.

The major European markets also showed significant moves to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index plummeted by 2.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both dove by 2.0 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Friday, pushing the most active crude futures contract to their lowest close in about seven months. Weak outlook for energy demand due to a possible global recession outweighed concerns about tight supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $4.75 or 5.7 percent at $78.74 a barrel, the lowest settlement since January.