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The Australian stock market is drifting further lower in mid-market trading on Monday, adding to the losses in the previous four sessions, with the benchmark S&P\/ASX 200 index still staying below the 8,300.00 level, with weakness across most sectors led by mining and technology<\/span> stocks.<\/p>\n The benchmark S&P\/ASX 200 Index is losing 30.80 points or 0.37 percent to 8,265.20, after hitting a low of 8,264.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 39.30 points or 0.46 percent to 8,511.00.<\/p>\n Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent, Rio Tinto is down 1.5 percent, Fortescue Metals is declining 2.5 percent and Mineral Resources is down more than 1 percent.<\/p>\n Oil stocks are mixed. Santos and Origin Energy are edging up 0.1 percent each, while Beach energy is gaining almost 2 percent. Woodside Energy is edging down 0.3 percent.<\/p>\n Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are losing more than 1 percent each, while Zip and Xero are edging up 0.2 percent each. Appen is tumbling more almost 4 percent.<\/p>\n Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is down almost 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.5 percent, Newmont is slipping 3.5 percent, Resolute Mining is declining more than 5 percent and Gold Road Resources is slipping almost 1 percent.<\/p>\n Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, Westpac, ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.<\/p>\n In other news, shares in Ventia Serviced are tumbling almost 8 percent after executives at the infrastructure giant were named in a case over alleged price-fixing brought by the ACCC last week.<\/p>\n In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to contract in December, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Judo Bank revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 48.2. That’s down from 49.4 in November and it moved further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The services index eased to 50.4 from 50.5 a month earlier, while the composite index slipped into contraction at 49.9 – down from 50.2 in November.<\/p>\n In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.637 on Monday. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Market Analysis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n