Australian Market Notably Lower

The Australian stock market is trading notably lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous five sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling well below the 8,300.00 level, with weakness across most of the sectors led by energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 42.00 points or 0.51 percent to 8,254.20, after hitting a low of 8,216.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 64.00 points or 0.75 percent to 8,506.90. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is down almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is declining more than 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is declining almost 3 percent, Beach energy is down more than 1 percent and Woodside Energy is edging down 0.5 percent, while Origin Energy is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Zip is losing more than 3 percent, Xero is declining almost 2 percent, Appen is down more than 2 percent, while Afterpay owner Block is plummeting more than 11 percent after reporting downbeat results.

WiseTech Global is tumbling more than 23 percent after the chairman and three independent directors resigned due to intractable differences about the ongoing role of the logistic software company’s founder, Richard White.

Gold miners are mostly loser. Evolution Mining and Newmont are losing almost 3 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is declining almost 2 percent, Gold Road Resources is slipping 2.5 percent and Resolute Mining is sliding more than 4 percent.

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

In other news, shares in NIB Holdings are jumping almost 14 percent after first-half results showed growth in its core Australian health insurance business.

Shares in Iress are tumbling more than 17 percent despite the software provider swinging to an profit in fiscal 2024.

Shares in APA Group are surging more than 6 percent after the energy infrastructure company reaffirmed for distributions and earnings in 2025.

Shares in Nuix are plunging more than 10 percent after the company reported downbeat first-half results.

Shares in Reece are plunging almost 14 percent after reporting a decline in revenue and net profit in the first half of the financial year, reflecting challenging trading conditions.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.637 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Friday, extending the pullback seen during Thursday’s session. The major averages all showed significant moves to the downside, with the Dow tumbling to its lowest closing level in a month.

The major averages moved roughly sideways going into the close, lingering near their worst levels of the day. The Dow plunged 748.63 points or 1.7 percent to 43,428.02, the Nasdaq dove 438.36 points or 2.2 percent to 19,524.01 and the S&P 500 slumped 104.39 points or 1.7 percent to 6,013.13.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index climbed by0.4 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line and the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, weighed down by concerns over the outlook for demand, and data showing a jump in crude inventories. A stronger dollar also fueled oil’s decline. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April lost $2.08 or 2.9 percent at $70.40 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 0.5 percent in the week.

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