Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly lower on Tuesday, giving up the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,100 level, following the mostly negative cues from Wall Street on Monday, on inflation concerns amid the spike in crude oil prices and anxiety ahead of major central bank meetings, including the U.S. Fed, during the week on interest rates.

Traders also continue to monitor developments surrounding the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 43.40 points or 0.61 percent to 7,106.00, after hitting a low of 7,081.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 55.50 points or 0.75 percent to 7,366.70. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 3 percent, Fortescue Metals sliding almost 6 percent, OZ Minerals is declining almost 4 percent, Rio Tinto is slipping more than 4 percent and Mineral Resources is down more than 5 percent.

Rio Tinto has launched a A$3.7 billion bid to assume full ownership of the Canadian company that owns 66 percent of the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper project in Mongolia.

Oil stocks are lower, with Beach energy losing almost 5 percent, Woodside Petroleum declining more than 3 percent, Santos slipping almost 4 percent and Origin Energy down almost 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Appen is losing more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is down almost 2 percent, Block is declining more than 5 percent and Zip is slipping almost 7 percent, while Xero is edging up 0.4 percent.

Gold miners are weak. Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are declining more than 4 percent each, while Newcrest Mining is losing more than 2 percent, Resolute Mining is slipping almost 6 percent and Northern Star Resources is down more than 2 percent.

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

In other news, shares in Vortiv are soaring 11.5 percent after its subsidiary Transaction Solutions International (TSI) inked a five-year agreement with the Central Bank of India to install 2,550 ATMs around the sub-continent.

Shares in Uniti are halted on soaring 17 percent in early trade after speculation that the telco infrastructure group is a takeover target.

In economic news, the Reserve Bank of Australia will release the minutes from its March 1 monetary policy meeting. At the meeting, the RBA left its key interest rate unchanged at a record low 0.10 percent and repeated to maintain its supportive stance until inflation returns to the target range of 2 to 3 percent in a sustainable manner.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.719 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading session on Monday, adding to the losses posted last week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a particularly steep drop on the day, ending the session at its lowest closing level in over a year.

The Nasdaq plunged 262.59 points or 2 percent to 12,581.22, while the S&P 500 slid 31.20 points or 0.7 percent to 4,173.11. Meanwhile, the narrower Dow turned negative after climbing as much as 450 points but recovered to end the day up 1.05 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 32,945.24.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged by 2.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Monday amid easing worries about supply on reports the U.S. is likely to lift sanctions on Venezuelan oil. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $6.32 or 5.8 percent at $103.01 a barrel.

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