Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading slightly lower on Friday, snapping a three-session winning streak, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying well below the 8,650 level, with weakness in financial stocks partially offset by gains in gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 6.20 points or 0.07 percent to 8,612.20, after hitting a low of 8,591.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 2.00 points or 0.02 percent to 8,904.70. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources is advancing more than 2 percent and Fortescue is gaining almost 1 percent, while Rio Tinto is losing almost 3 percent. BHP Group is flat.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos is losing almost 1 percent and Woodside Energy is edging down 0.2 percent, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.1 percent and Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent. Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is gaining more than 1 percent, Zip is adding more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is edging up 0.3 percent and Appen is up almost 1 percent, while Xero is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are losing almost 1 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Resolute Mining is adding more than 1 percent, Newmont is advancing more than 3 percent and Northern Star Resources is up almost 1 percent, while Evolution Mining and Genesis Minerals are gaining almost 2 percent each.

In other news, shares in NextDC are jumping more than 7 percent after confirmation that the data centre provider has inked an MoU with OpenAI to develop a sovereign artificial intelligence infrastructure partnership.

Shares in Premier Investments are diving more than 13 percent as the Peter Alexander and Smiggle owner announced a 12-month on-market share buyback of up to $100 million following the completion of its Apparel Brands sale to Myer.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.661 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Thursday after moving higher over the two previous sessions. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closed narrowly mixed.

While the Nasdaq rose 51.04 points or 0.2 percent to 23,505.14 and the S&P 500 inched up 7.40 points or 0.1 percent to 6,857.12, the narrower Dow edged down 31.96 points or 0.1 percent to 47,850.94.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices advanced on Thursday as expectations of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war dimmed. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.70 or 1.19 percent at $59.65 per barrel.