Australian Market Modestly Lower

The Australian stock market is trading modestly lower on Tuesday, adding to the losses in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying well below the 8,900 level, with weakness in energy, financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 16.50 points or 0.19 percent to 8,866.30, after hitting a low of 8,843.80 and a high of 8,914.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 6.00 points or 0.07 percent to 9,177.30. Australian stocks closed significantly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 3 percent and Fortescue is adding more than 2 percent, while Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are advancing almost 4 percent each.

Oil stocks are low. Santos is losing almost 1 percent, while Woodside Energy, Origin Energy and Beach energy are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing 1.5 percent, while WiseTech Global, Zip and Xero are declining almost 1 percent each. Appen is edging up 0.3 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star resources and Resolute Mining are advancing more than 4 percent each, while Newmont and Evolution Mining are jumping almost 4 percent. Genesis Minerals is surging almost 6 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are declining almost 2 percent each, while Westpac is losing 1.5 percent. ANZ Banking is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.651 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks continue to turn in a strong performance throughout the trading day on Monday after moving sharply higher early in the session. The major averages all showed strong moves to the upside partly offsetting the steep losses posted last Friday.

The major averages moved roughly sideways after the early surge, hovering near their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq spiked 490.18 points or 2.2 percent to 22,694.61, the S&P 500 shot up 102.21 points or 1.6 percent to 6,654.72 and the Dow jumped 587.98 points or 1.3 percent to 46,067.58.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index both rose by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices rebounded to post sharp gains on Monday as the likelihood of the U.S. getting involved in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war triggered fresh concerns of military escalation as well as new sanction threats on Russian oil exports. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.67 or 1.14 percent at $59.57 per barrel.

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