Australian Market Maintains Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is maintaining its early losses in mid-market trading on Monday, snapping a three-session winning streak, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling below the 9,150.00 level, with weakness in financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy and mining stocks on spiking commodity prices amid the military conflict in the Middle-East.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 31.00 points or 0.34 percent to 9,167.60, after hitting a low of 9,119.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 37.70 points or 0.40 percent to 9,397.90. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Fortescue is tumbling almost 5 percent. BHP Group is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is jumping almost 9 percent, Woodside Energy is surging almost 6 percent and Santos is advancing more than 6 percent, while Origin Energy is losing almost 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is tumbling almost 5 percent, WiseTech Global is declining almost 4 percent, Appen is slipping almost 7 percent, Zip is sliding more than 6 percent and Xero is losing almost 4 percent.

Gold miners are higher. Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 5 percent, Evolution Mining is surging more than 6 percent, Resolute Mining is soaring almost 10 percent, Newmont is jumping more than 7 percent and Genesis Minerals is advancing almost 8 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are declining almost 3 percent each, while ANZ Banking is losing more than 2 percent and National Australia Bank is slipping more than 3 percent. In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in February, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.0. That's down from 52.3 in January, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.709 on Monday.