FX.co ★ Australian Market Sharply Lower

In post-holiday trading on Tuesday, the Australian stock market experienced a significant downturn, relinquishing some of the gains made in the previous three sessions. This decline aligns with the mixed signals from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dipped below the 7,800 threshold, reflecting widespread sectoral weaknesses, especially among gold miners due to plummeting bullion prices.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 87.30 points, or 1.11%, to settle at 7,772.70, after hitting an earlier low of 7,768.80. Similarly, the broader All Ordinaries Index fell by 88.80 points, or 1.10%, to mark 8,024.00. Australian stocks had notably closed higher on Friday, prior to the Monday holiday.

In the mining sector, Rio Tinto saw a decline of nearly 1%, BHP Group decreased by over 1%, and Fortescue Metals along with Mineral Resources each fell by almost 2%.

Oil stocks, meanwhile, showed mostly positive trends. Woodside Energy and Beach Energy each gained close to 1%, and Santos edged up by 0.1%. However, Origin Energy dropped by nearly 1%.

Technology stocks displayed mixed outcomes: Appen and Zip rose nearly 1% each, WiseTech Global and Xero slid by 0.4% each, and Afterpay owner Block dropped by nearly 3%. Gold miners were predominantly lower, with Gold Road Resources, Resolute Mining, and Evolution Mining each plunging by around 7%, Newmont losing almost 3%, and Northern Star Resources falling by more than 6%.

Among the major banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac each declined by over 1%, while National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking Group each fell by almost 1%.

In currency trading, the Australian dollar was priced at $0.660 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, Monday’s trading session was marked by indecision, continuing a trend of lackluster performance seen in the previous two sessions. Major indices fluctuated across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly higher.

Despite the erratic trading, both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 achieved new record closing highs. The Nasdaq increased by 59.40 points, or 0.4%, to 17,192.53, the S&P 500 rose by 13.80 points, or 0.3%, to 5,360.79, and the Dow edged up by 69.05 points, or 0.2%, to 38,868.04.

Meanwhile, major European markets all trended downward. The French CAC 40 Index dropped by 1.3%, the German DAX Index fell by 0.3%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index decreased by 0.2%.

In the commodities market, crude oil prices surged on Monday due to optimistic projections for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July rose sharply by $2.21, or about 2.9%, to close at $77.74 per barrel.