Australian Market Modestly Lower

The Australian stock market is trading modestly lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,800 level, with weakness in across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks. Financial stocks were the only bright spot.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 20.20 points or 0.23 percent to 8,773.00, after hitting a low of 8,752.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 32.80 points or 0.37 percent to 8,884.30. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is declining more than 3 percent each, while Fortescue, Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are losing more than 2 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is edging down 0.2 percent, Santos is declining almost 4 percent and Woodside Energy is losing more than 2 percent, while Beach energy is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay and Square-owner Block is gaining more than 1 percent and Xero is adding more than 2 percent, while Appen is slipping more than 2 percent and WiseTech Global is declining more than 3 percent. Zip is plummeting almost 30 percent after its first-quarter update revealed a major U.S. fraud incident and higher-than-expected bad debt.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and Westpac are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is advancing almost 3 percent and ANZ Banking is adding more than 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources is losing almost 2 percent, Genesis Minerals is sliding more than 4 percent, Evolution Mining is slipping almost 3 percent, Resolute Mining is tumbling more than 6 percent and Newmont is declining more than 2 percent.

In other news, shares in Temple & Webster are plunging almost 29 percent after he online furniture retailer highlighted an 8 percent decline in top-line sales to date amid weak demand, alongside a shift in its business strategy.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to contract in October, albeit at a slightly slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Friday with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.7. That’s up marginally from 49.6 in September, and it remains beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The services PMI dropped to 47.8 in October from 51.9 in September, while the composite PMI fell to 47.7 from 51.3.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.702 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial move back to the downside during trading on Thursday after trending higher over the past few sessions. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way lower, tumbling to its lowest closing level in over a month.

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended the day just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq plunged 694.00 points or 2.6 percent to 26,008.86 and the S&P 500 slumped 93.74 points or 1.2 percent to 7,663.43. The narrower Dow closed up 11.89 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 52,867.98.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled 1.4 percent and the German DAX Index slid by 1.1 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index posted a more modest loss, dipping by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Thursday on rising concerns of long-term supply disruptions following reports that the U.S. and Israel are planning a joint military operation against Iran after the U.S. midterm elections in November. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $2.19 or 2.25 percent at $99.34 per barrel.

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