FX.co ★ Australian Market Sharply Lower

The Australian stock market experienced a steep decline in trading following the holiday period, echoing the unanimous negative indicators from Wall Street. This reduction was most notably observed in the S&P/ASX 200, which fell below the 7,600 mark, largely influenced by performing subpar iron ore miners and tech stocks.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index saw a loss of 92.40 points, a 1.20% decline, landing at 7,590.60 points after a previous low of 7,575.80. The more extensive All Ordinaries Index also faced a downfall of 87.50 points or 1.1%, settling at 7,850.00 points. This decrease follows a period of stability when the Australian market closed flat before the Thursday holiday.

Key mining companies such as Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto saw minor increases of approximately 2% and 0.2% respectively. However, this was outweighed by significant losses from Mineral Resources (3%) and BHP Group (over 4%), the latter having made a $39 billion bid for their competition - Anglo American. Oil stocks seemed to follow suit, with Santos and Origin Energy both dipping by 0.3% and Woodside Energy by around 1%, although Beach Energy increased slightly by 0.4%.

Tech stocks didn't fare any better as Afterpay owner Block, WiseTech Global, Appen, and Xero all incurred losses ranging from 1% to 4%. Minor improvements were seen in Zip's stocks, rising by 0.4%. Among the major banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac both experienced losses of over 1%, while National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking saw a nearly 1% and 2% drop respectively. Gold miners offered some respite with Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources marking an increase of more than 1%, complemented by Resolute Mining’s 0.5% boost.

Interestingly, shares in Newmont soared by over 14% due to speculation of the company selling its Fruta del Norte asset for US$ 360 million to Lundin Gold in order to refine its collection of gold mines post its acquisition of Newcrest. The Aussie dollar was trading at $0.652 on Friday.

Looking globally, while stocks in Wall Street made some recovery in course of Thursday's trading they remained predominantly low, following a sharp decrease at the start of the session. Major contributors to this downtrend were the Dow with a reduction of 375.12 points or 1.0%, standing at 38,085.80; the Nasdaq, decreasing by 100.99 points or 0.6% to 15,611.76; and the S&P 500 with a 23.21 point drop, down to 5,048.42.

Across Europe, the market situation appeared mixed. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index grew by 0.5% while the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.9% and the German DAX Index saw a 1.0% reduction.

Despite data indicating slightly slower than predicted GDP growth in the United States for Q1, Crude oil prices displayed a positive uptrend. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June took an upturn, increasing by $0.76, approximately 0.92% higher to $83.57 a barrel.