In the Australian stock market, a minor downturn was observed on Monday. This slight decrease offset some of the gains from the previous session, though the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 maintained a position above the 7,400.00 level. This trend followed mixed signals received from Wall Street on Friday, primarily due to losses in the technology and financial sectors.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index went down by 6.60 points or 0.09 percent, standing at 7,742.40 after hitting a low of 7,749.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index decreased by 6.50 points or 0.08 percent, ending up at 8,016.20. In comparison, Australian stocks closed slightly higher last Friday.
Looking at the major miners, Rio Tinto witnessed a slight decrease of 0.4 percent while Mineral Resources experienced a loss of nearly one percent. On the other hand, the BHP Group and Fortescue Metals experienced a minor uptick ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 percent respectively. Oil stocks showcased a mixed picture - while Beach Energy increased by 0.2 percent and Origin Energy gained more than 1 percent, Woodside Energy and Santos declined by almost 1 percent and over 1 percent respectively.
Tech stocks were generally on a downward trajectory with Xero losing almost 1 percent, Appen decreasing by more than 2 percent, and Afterpay owner Block and Zip both declining by nearly 3 and 2 percent respectively. Conversely, WiseTech Global rose by nearly 2 percent.
Gold miners had mixed results, with Gold Road Resources and Newmont each increasing by 0.1 to 0.3 percent. Northern Star Resources gained nearly one percent, while Resolute Mining decreased more than one percent and Evolution Mining remained constant.
Among the major four banks, the Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank both trended downward by 0.1 to 0.3 percent. Westpac experienced a larger decrease of almost 1 percent. Additionally, ANZ Banking declined almost 4 percent due to ongoing investigations by the corporate regulator for potential manipulation of government debt sales last year, as reported by The Australian Financial Review.
In other news, Lendlease shares fell by 4 percent because the Property Group confirmed receipt of a $112 million tax bill from the Australian Taxation Office, related to a tax dispute over its retirement living business.
As for the currency market, the Aussie dollar traded at $0.659 on Monday.
Wall Street experienced a slight surge earlier on Friday but remained relatively directionless for the rest of the day. The major averages ended on a mixed note. The Dow performed well, closing higher for the eighth consecutive session. However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq marginally declined by 5.40 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 16,340.87. The S&P 500 increased by 8.60 points or 0.2 percent to 5,222.68, and the Dow rose 125.08 points or 0.3 percent, reaching a new one-month closing high of 39,512.84.
Major European markets also saw an upward trend. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index increased by 0.6 percent, while the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.
