Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,300 level, with weakness across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks.

The stronger-than-expected Australian jobs data also led traders to scale back expectations for an interest rate cut in February.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 50.70 points or 0.61 percent to 8,279.60, after hitting a low of 8,263.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 51.20 points or 0.60 percent to 8,535.70. Australian markets ended modestly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent and Mineral Resources is edging down 0.2 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are declining more than 2 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is edging up 0.5 percent and Beach energy gaining 1.5 percent, while Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent. Santos is flat.

Among tech stocks, Zip and WiseTech Global are slipping almost 1 percent each, while Afterpay-owner Block is losing more than 4 percent and Xero is down more than 1 percent. Appen is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking, Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each. Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is losing almost 4 percent, Northern Star Resources is declining more than 2 percent, Gold Road Resources is sliding almost 3 percent, Newmont is down more than 1 percent and Resolute Mining is slipping more than 4 percent after announcing a final settlement payment to the government of Mali.

In other news, shares in Insignia Financial are surging more than 6 percent after the wealth manager confirmed the receipt of a $2.68 billion non-binding takeover offer from private equity firm Bain Capital.

Shares in Iress are climbing almost 6 percent after the software company reaffirmed its earnings guidance for fiscal year 2024.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.637 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks recovered from an early pullback during trading on Thursday but moved back to the downside over the course of the session. With the downward move, the Dow closed lower for the sixth consecutive session.

The major averages fell to new lows for the session going into the close of trading. The Dow slid 234.44 points or 0.5 percent to 43,914.12, the Nasdaq declined 132.05 points or 0.7 percent to 19,902.84 and the S&P 500 fell 32.94 points or 0.5 percent to 6,051.25.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day little changed after the European Central Bank cut interest rates by a quarter point. While the French CAC 40 Index closed just below the unchanged line, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both crept up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices closed lower Thursday after three days of gains after the International Energy Agency's forecast that the oil market will see excess supply next year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January fell $0.27 or 0.4 percent at $70.02 a barrel.