Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly lower on Monday, extending the losses 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 8,600.00 level, with weakness across most sectors led by mining stocks. Energy stocks are the only bright spot on surging crude oil prices amid the military conflict in the Middle-East.

Traders remain concerned the spiking crude oil prices and the resultant inflation will lead to back-to-back rate hike as the Reserve Bank of Australia readies to deliver its monetary policy decision on Tuesday.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 26.90 points or 0.31 percent to 8,590.20, after hitting a low of 8,563.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 34.50 points or 0.39 percent to 8,804.60. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Mineral Resources is declining almost 4 percent, Rio Tinto is losing almost 2 percent, Fortescue is slipping more than 2 percent and BHP Group is edging down 0.5 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining almost 3 percent, Woodside Energy is advancing more than 3 percent and Santos is adding almost 2 percent, while Origin Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are edging up 0.1 percent each, while Appen is slipping almost 5 percent, Zip is edging down 0.2 percent and Xero is losing more than 1 percent.

Gold miners are lower. Northern Star Resources is declining more than 4 percent, Evolution Mining is losing more than 2 percent, Resolute Mining is sliding more than 5 percent, Newmont is slipping almost 4 percent and Genesis Minerals is tumbling almost 5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.1 percent each, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each.

In other news, shares in Elixir Energy are jumping almost 17 percent after the release of the final drilling results from the company's Lorelle-3H appraisal well, located in Queensland's Taroom Trough.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.701 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks rebounded in early trading on Friday but showed a notable move back to the downside as the day progressed following the sell-off seen during Thursday's session. The major averages pulled back well off their early highs and into negative territory.

The major averages added to the steep losses posted in the previous session, falling to new three-month closing lows. The Nasdaq slid 206.62 points or 0.9 percent to 22,105.36, the S&P 500 fell 10.43 points or 0.6 percent to 6,632.19 and the Dow dipped 119.38 points or 0.3 percent to 46,558.47.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index decreased by 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices again showed a substantial move to the upside on Friday as uncertainty prevails about the timeline for ending the war. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was up $3.35 or 3.50 percent at $98.08 per barrel.