Australian Market Significantly Lower

The Australian stock market is significantly lower on Friday, reversing the gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling a tad below the 8,300 level, with weakness across most sectors led by mining, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 56.70 points or 0.68 percent to 8,299.20, after hitting a low of 8,290.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 54.50 points or 0.63 percent to 8,569.60. Australian markets ended significantly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent, Fortescue Metals is declining almost 3 percent, Rio Tinto is edging down 0.5 percent and Mineral Resources is down more than 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Santos is edging down 0.1 percent. Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is edging down 0.1 percent, Zip is losing more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is declining 3.5 percent and Xero is down almost 1 percent, while Appen is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.2 percent, while ANZ Banking is edging down 0.5 percent. Westpac and National Australia Bank are flat.

Gold miners are mixed. Evolution Mining, Newmont and Northern Star Resources are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Resolute Mining is losing more than 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is declining almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Flight Centre Travel Group plunged almost 17 percent after it provided an uncertain growth outlook saying management expects profits will again be heavily weighted to the second half.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.670 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw modest strength for much of the session on Thursday before giving back ground late in the trading day to close roughly flat. The Dow still managed to reach a new record closing high.

The Dow ended the day up 161.35 points or 0.4 percent at 43,239.05, while the Nasdaq crept up 6.53 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 18,373.61 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.00 point or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,841.47.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside after the ECB lowered interest rates. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices snapped a four-day losing streak on Thursday, supported by data showing an unexpected drop in crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.28 or 0.4 percent at $70.67 a barrel.

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