The Australian stock market is sharply lower on Monday, giving up the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,300 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, with weakness across all sectors, particularly in technology stocks, which mirrored their peers on Nasdaq amid disappointing earnings news from tech giants.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 109.40 points or 1.47 percent to 7,325.60, after hitting a low of 7,323.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 119.90 points or 1.55 percent to 7,604.90. Australian stocks closed sharply higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is edging down 0.3 percent, OZ Minerals is declining more than 2 percent, Mineral Resources is slipping almost 3 percent and Fortescue Metals is down more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are lower, Woodside Petroleum, Origin Energy and Santos edging down 0.3 percent each, while Beach energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Xero and WiseTech Global are declining more than 4 percent each, while Appen is losing almost 5 percent, Afterpay owner Block is slipping 3.5 percent and Zip is down almost 3 percent.

Gold miners are weak. Gold Road Resources, Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are losing almost 2 percent each, while Newcrest Mining is down more than 1 percent and Resolute Mining is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are losing almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is edging down 0.2 percent and National Australia Bank is down more than 1 percent.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in April, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from S&P Global showed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 58.8. That’s up from 57.7 in March and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. This marked the twenty-third consecutive month in which the sector has grown.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.706 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial move back to the downside during trading on Friday following the rally seen in the previous session. The major averages more than offset yesterday’s gains, with the Nasdaq plunging to its lowest closing level since late November 2020.

The major averages saw continued weakness going into the close, ending the session near their worst levels of the day. The Dow dove 939.18 points or 2.8 percent to 32,977.21, the Nasdaq plummeted 536.89 points or 4.2 percent to 12,334.64 and the S&P 500 tumbled 155.57 points or 3.6 percent to 4,131.93.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Crude oil futures pared early gains and drifted lower Friday, snapping a three-day winning streak as worries about outlook for energy demand weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $0.67 or 0.6 percent at $104.69 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 3.3 percent last week.

Market Analysis




Australian Market Sharply Lower

2022-05-02 01:31:20

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