Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading modestly lower on Tuesday, adding to the slight losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying well below the 9,000 mark, with weakness in financial and technology stocks as well as a mixed performance across other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 20.20 points or 0.23 percent to 8,961.20, after hitting a low of 8,959.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 15.90 points or 0.17 percent to 9,264.10. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group, Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue is losing almost 1 percent. Oil stocks are mixed. Santos and Origin Energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is edging up 0.4 percent and Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Zip are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Appen is declining more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is losing almost 2 percent. Xero is edging up 0.1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star resources, Resolute Mining and Evolution Mining are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Newmont is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is declining more than 1 percent and ANZ Banking is edging down 0.2 percent, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are losing almost 1 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.661 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Monday following the mixed performance seen during last Friday's session. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The Nasdaq climbed 161.81 points or 0.7 percent to 22,941.67 and the S&P 500 rose 24.49 points or 0.4 percent to 6,740.28, although the narrower Dow bucked the uptrend and edged down 63.31 points or 0.1 percent to 46,694.97.

The major European markets moved to the downside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.4 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index closed just below the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices surged on Monday as OPEC's output increase for November turned out to be lower than expected and relieved concerns of oversupply. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.73 or 1.20 percent at $61.61 per barrel.