The Australian stock market is experiencing slight declines on Tuesday, furthering the losses from the previous session despite positive signals from global markets overnight. The S&P/ASX 200 remains well below the 7,800 level, influenced by weakness in financial stocks as traders await the minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) June monetary policy meeting.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is down by 3.90 points, or 0.05 percent, at 7,746.80, after hitting a low of 7,737.30 earlier in the session. Similarly, the broader All Ordinaries Index has declined by 3.80 points, or 0.05 percent, to 7,988.50. Australian stocks had closed with modest losses on Monday.
In the mining sector, BHP Group shows a slight increase of 0.1 percent, while Fortescue Metals is down by 0.2 percent, and Mineral Resources has decreased by nearly 1 percent. Rio Tinto remains flat.
Oil stocks are mostly on the rise. Woodside Energy has gained over 2 percent, Santos is up by almost 1 percent, and both Beach Energy and Origin Energy have increased between 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.
Among technology stocks, Appen has surged over 2 percent, Zip is marginally up by 0.2 percent, and WiseTech Global has added more than 1 percent. Conversely, Block (owner of Afterpay) has fallen by 1.5 percent. Gold miners are generally performing well. Gold Road Resources is up by nearly 1 percent, Resolute Mining has gained almost 3 percent, Northern Star Resources is up by 0.4 percent, Evolution Mining has risen by 1.5 percent, while Newmont has edged down by 0.1 percent.
In the banking sector, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking Group, and Westpac have seen slight declines ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 percent, and National Australia Bank has decreased by almost 1 percent.
Regarding economic updates, the Reserve Bank of Australia's minutes from its June 18 monetary policy meeting will be released on Tuesday. During the meeting, the RBA retained the benchmark rate at a 12-year high of 4.35 percent for the fifth consecutive session, noting that inflation is decelerating more slowly than expected, leaving room for a potential rate hike.
The Aussie dollar is trading at $0.665 on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Monday, led by a notable performance in technology shares. The major indices opened on a weak note but gradually gained strength as the session progressed. The Dow finished up by 50.66 points, or 0.13 percent, at 39,169.52. The S&P 500 advanced by 14.61 points, or 0.27 percent, to 5,475.09, while the Nasdaq climbed by 146.70 points, or 0.83 percent, to 17,879.30.
European markets also showed positive movement on the day. Germany's DAX increased by 0.3 percent, France's CAC 40 rose by 1.09 percent, and the UK's FTSE 100 edged up by 0.03 percent.
Crude oil prices saw a significant increase on Monday due to expectations of higher demand, concerns over supply, and production cuts by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures rose by $1.84, or about 2.2 percent, to $83.38 a barrel.
