The Australian stock market is trading slightly lower on Monday, continuing the losses seen in the previous session. This movement comes amidst mixed signals from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is currently hovering just above the 7,700 level, its losses in iron miners and technology stocks nearly balanced by gains in the gold mining sector.
Market participants are exercising caution ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monetary policy decision later in the week, with expectations that the RBA will maintain the cash rate at 4.35 percent.
The S&P/ASX 200 index is down by 10.10 points, or 0.13%, at 7,714.20, reaching an earlier low of 7,708.70. Meanwhile, the broader All Ordinaries Index has dropped by 14.40 points or 0.18% to 7,960.40. Australian stocks had also closed modestly lower on Friday.
In the mining sector, major players like Rio Tinto and BHP Group are seeing slight declines of 0.1 to 0.2 percent each. Fortescue Metals is falling by nearly 1 percent, and Mineral Resources is down by more than 1 percent. Oil stocks show mixed results, with Beach Energy edging up by 0.2 percent and Origin Energy adding nearly 1 percent. Conversely, Woodside Energy and Santos are each down by 0.3 to 0.5 percent.
Technology stocks are mostly down. Appen is losing over 2 percent, Afterpay's parent company Block is edging down by 0.1 percent, and WiseTech Global is down by nearly 1 percent. Zip, however, is up by 0.5 percent, and Xero remains flat.
Gold miners are mostly on the rise. Gold Road Resources is up nearly 3 percent, Evolution Mining is up 0.3 percent, and both Resolute Mining and Newmont have increased by more than 1 percent each. Northern Star Resources remains flat.
Among the major banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, and Westpac are slightly up by 0.1 to 0.3 percent, while ANZ Banking is edging down by 0.2 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is trading at $0.660.
On Wall Street, stocks experienced modest weakness for much of Friday's session but managed to recover, ending the day roughly flat. The Nasdaq fluctuated throughout the day before finishing at a record closing high. It increased by 21.32 points or 0.1 percent to 17,688.88. The S&P 500, however, edged down by 2.14 points, or less than 0.1%, to 5,431.60, while the Dow dipped by 57.94 points or 0.2% to 38,589.16.
European markets fared worse, with major indices moving downward. The French CAC 40 plummeted by 2.7 percent, the German DAX fell by 1.4 percent, and the UK’s FTSE 100 dipped by 0.2 percent.
Crude oil prices ended a four-day winning streak, settling lower on Friday due to a rise in U.S. crude inventories and the strengthening dollar. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures for July fell by $0.17, or about 0.22%, to $78.45 a barrel, despite nearly a 4 percent gain over the week.
