Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading modestly lower on Tuesday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly positive cues from European markets and lack of cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 8,950 level, with weakness in energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 16.60 points or 0.19 percent to 8,911.10, after hitting a low of 8,897.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 15.00 points or 0.16 percent to 9,181.80. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto, Mineral Resources and BHP Group are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Fortescue is losing almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Beach energy is edging down 0.3 percent and Santos is declining almost 3 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block, Zip and WiseTech Global are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Appen is losing almost 1 percent. Xero is edging up 0.3 percent.

Gold miners are mixed. Gold Road Resources and Newmont are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Northern Star resources is losing almost 1 percent. Evolution Mining is adding almost 1 percent and Resolute Mining is gaining more than 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.655 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, the markets were closed for Labor Day on Monday after closing lower on Friday.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. The Germany's DAX climbed 0.57 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 edged up 0.1 percent and 0.05 percent.