The Australian stock market is notably lower on Tuesday, giving up some of gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,200 level, following the firmly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with technology stocks mirroring their peers on Nasdaq, partially offset by strength in energy stocks and gold miners. The domestic coronavirus situation, primarily in New South Wales and Victoria, is also denting investor sentiment.
Australia’s two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, are also still under lockdown. Victoria reported a record 1,763 new locally acquired cases and four deaths, with the active cases totaling 14,368 across Victoria. NSW has reported 608 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths on Monday.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 66.10 points or 0.91 percent to 7,212.40, after hitting a low of 7,204.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 80.50 points or 1.06 percent to 7,496.30. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Monday.
Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent, while Fortescue Metals and OZ Minerals are declining more than 2 percent each. Rio Tinto is lower by more than 1 percent and Mineral Resources is down almost 3 percent.
Oil stocks are higher after as crude oil prices climbed overnight. Santos and Woodside Petroleum are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Oil Search and Origin Energy are adding almost 3 percent each. Beach energy is up more than 1 percent
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.3 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each. National Australia Bank is edging down 0.5 percent.
Among tech stocks, Xero is losing more than 2 percent and WiseTech Global is lower by almost 3 percent, while Afterpay and Appen are declining more than 5 percent each.
Gold miners are higher. Gold Road Resources is gaining more than 3 percent, Resolute Mining is adding more than 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is rising more than 2 percent, while Evolution Mining and Newcrest Mining are up almost 1 percent each..
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.727 on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks ended sharply lower on Monday, after languishing in negative territory right through the day’s session. High commodity prices, a surge in Treasury yields, worries about growth and rising inflation rendered the mood bearish.
Among the major averages, the Dow, which plunged to 33,821.58 a little before noon, ended with a loss of 323.54 points or 0.94 percent at 34,002.92. The S&P 500 settled with a loss of 56.58 points or 1.3 percent at 4,300.46, while the tech-laden Nasdaq closed with a loss of 311.21 points or 2.14 percent at 14,255.48, more than 70 points off the session’s low of 14,181.69.
The major European markets also closed lower on the day. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 ended down 0.23 percent, Germany’s DAX declined 0.79 percent and France’s CAC 40 shed 0.61 percent.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday, riding on the decision of OPEC to stick to its current output policy amid rising demand for petroleum products across the world. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November jumped $1.74 or 2.2 percent at $77.62 a barrel, the highest settlement since November 2014.
Market Analysis
Australian Market Notably Lower
2021-10-05 01:35:45
