Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly lower on Monday, recouping some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling below the 8,850.00 level, with weakness in energy and financial stocks partially offset by gains in mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 25.40 points or 0.29 percent to 8,845.80, after hitting a low of 8,837.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 19.50 points or 0.21 percent to 9,121.00. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 2 percent, BHP Group is edging up 0.1 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing 2.5 percent. Fortescue is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is declining more than 3 percent and Origin Energy is down almost 1 percent, while Beach energy and Santos are losing more than1 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is declining more than 1 percent and Zip is losing almost 1 percent, while WiseTech Global is gaining more than 1 percent, Xero is up almost 1 percent and Appen is edging up 0.3 percent.

Gold miners are mixed. Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 1 percent and Resolute Mining is adding more than 1 percent, while Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent and Newmont is edging down 0.5 percent. Gold Road Resources is flat.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and Westpac are declining almost 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.4 percent and ANZ Banking is losing more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Mayne Pharma are tumbling almost 13 percent after reports that the state government of Australia had asked the FIRB to block Cosette's $672 million takeover over fears that Salisbury, a major Adelaide manufacturing plant, would be closed.

Shares in 4DMedical are jumping more than 28 percent after the company reported inking agreements with a leading global pharmaceutical company, Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Spectrum Medical Imaging to deploy its lung health analysis software.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.656 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks came under pressure in early trading on Friday after failing to sustain an initial move to the upside. The major averages pulled back into negative after reaching new record intraday highs.

The major averages climbed well off their worst levels as the day progressed but still closed in negative territory. The Dow slid 220.43 points or 0.5 percent to 45,400.86, the S&P 500 fell 20.58 points or 0.3 percent to 6,481.50 and the Nasdaq edged down 7.31 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 21,700.39.

The major European markets also all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slid by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Friday as oversupply concerns grew stronger ahead of OPEC's Sunday meeting, where the group did as expected and boosted output. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery dropped $1.64 or 2.58 percent to $61.84 per barrel.