Australian Market Sharply Lower | Nasdaq

(RTTNews) – The Australian stock market is sharply lower on Friday, snapping a five-session winning streak, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,500 level, following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, with stocks across all sectors plunging after US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell indicated faster and higher interest rate hikes.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 121.60 points or 1.60 percent to 7,471.20, after hitting a low of 7,466.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 123.20 points or 1.56 percent to 7,763.90. Australian markets ended modestly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is losing more than 3 percent, Fortescue Metals is down more than 2 percent, OZ Minerals is sliding more than 5 percent, BHP Group is declining more than 4 percent and Mineral Resources is slipping almost 3 percent.

Oil stocks are lower. Woodside Petroleum is losing more than 2 percent, Beach energy is slipping almost 3 percent, Origin Energy is down more than 1 percent and Santos is declining almost 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global is losing more than 1 percent, Zip is slipping more than 5 percent, Afterpay owner Block is sliding more than 6 percent, Xero is down almost 2 percent and Appen is declining more than 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac is losing more than 1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is declining almost 2 percent, while National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are down almost 1 percent each.

Gold miners are weak after gold prices slumped overnight. Evolution Mining is losing almost 3 percent, Northern Star Resources is declining more than 3 percent, Newcrest Mining is slipping almost 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is down more than 2 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in April, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from S&P Global showed on Friday with a manufacturing PMI score of 57.9. That’s up from 57.7 in March, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Also, the services PMI improved to 56.6 in April from 55.6 in March, while the composite rose to 56.2 from 55.1.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.736 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial downturn over the course of the trading session on Thursday, with the major averages pulling back sharply after showing a strong move to the upside in early trading. With the steep drop on the day, the Nasdaq fell to its lowest closing level in over a month.

After jumping by more than 330 points to a two-month intraday high, the Dow slumped 368.03 points or 1.1 percent to 34,792.76. The Nasdaq also plunged 278.41 points or 2.1 percent to 13,174.65, and the S&P 500 tumbled 65.79 points or 1.5 percent at 4,393.66.

Meanwhile, European stocks moved mostly higher on the day, although the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index underperformed and ended the day roughly flat. The German DAX Index jumped by 1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index surged up by 1.4 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Thursday, extending gains from the previous session amid concerns about global crude supply and strong demand in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $1.60 or 1.6 percent at $103.79 a barrel.

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