Australian stock market is declining on Friday, extending the losses of the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 below the 6,700 level, following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street. The market was weighed down by sharp losses in energy, materials and technology stocks with another uptick in bond yields. The market is heading for the first weekly decline in three weeks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is declining 13.20 points or 0.20 percent to 6,732.70, after touching a low of 6,673.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is lower by 13.40 points or 0.19 percent to 6,990.20. Australian stocks closed lower on Thursday.
The major miners are weak. Fortescue Metals is down almost 1 percent, BHP Group is losing nearly 2 percent and Rio Tinto is declining more than 1 percent.
Oil stocks are lower after crude oil prices tumbled overnight. Woodside Petroleum, Oil Search and Santos are losing more than 3 percent each.
Tech stocks are also lower. Afterpay is losing almost 2 percent, WiseTech Global is down nearly 1 percent, and Appen is edging down 0.4 percent.
Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.3 percent, Commonwealth Bank is down almost 1 percent and ANZ Banking is edging down 0.1 percent.
Gold miners are mixed after gold closed higher. Evolution Mining is flat and Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 3 percent, while Newcrest Mining is losing nearly 2 percent.
In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that the total value of retail sales in Australia were down a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent on month in February, coming in at A$30.192 billion. That missed expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent following the revised 0.3 percent gain in January. However, retail sales were up 8.7 percent on year.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.774 on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading session on Thursday, with the Dow eventually joining the broader Nasdaq and S&P 500 in negative territory as the day progressed. The Nasdaq showed a particularly steep drop amid a sell-off by technology stocks.
The major averages all closed in negative territory, although the Nasdaq underperformed its counterparts by a wide margin. The Nasdaq plunged 409.03 points or 3 percent to 13,116.17, while the Dow fell 153.07 points or 0.5 percent to 32,862.30 and the S&P 500 slumped 58.66 points or 1.5 percent to 3,915.46.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged up by 1.2 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent and the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil prices declined sharply on Thursday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to uncertainty about the pace of the economic recovery. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $4.60 or 7.1 percent at $60.00 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Australian Market Extends Losses Into Third Day
2021-03-19 01:18:09
