(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market opened weak and drifted further down in early trades on Tuesday as participants tracked the overnight fall on Wall Street and pressed sales almost across the board.

Energy, materials, industrials and property trusts shares are among the prominent losers. Financials, technology and consumer discretionary stocks are also mostly down in the red.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which fell to 4,764.7 in early trades, is currently down 53.3 points, or 1.1%, at 4,777. The broader All Ordinaries index is trading at 4,778, down 54.6 points, or 1.1%, from its previous close.

On Monday, the S&P/ASX 200 index had closed down 29.1 points, or 0.6%, at 4,830.3 while the All Ordinaries index ended lower by 27.1 points, or 0.6%, at 4,832.6.

Among top miners, BHP Billiton is down 1.4%, Rio Tinto is trading lower by about 1.5%, and Newcrest Mining is down nearly 3%. Bluescope Steel, Fortescue Metals and Lihir Gold are trading lower by 1.5%-3%, while Incitec Pivot and Orica are trading with modest losses.

In the energy space, Woodside Petroleum, Santos, Oil Search and Origin Energy are trading lower by 1%-2%.

Among bank stocks, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corporation are trading modestly lower, while ANZ Bank and National Australia Bank are up with small gains.

Diversified financials stock Macquarie Group is down 1.3%. The group has bought Canadian wealth management business Blackmont Capital Inc. for C$93.3 million, or A$95.16 million, to expand the distribution of its brokerage offerings in the country.

Macquarie will pay cash to CI Financial for the investment dealer division of Blackmont Capital Inc. Blackmont will become part of Macquarie’s banking and financial services group and be rebranded Macquarie Private Wealth.

In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened lower with a stronger U.S. dollar and weak equity markets reducing demand for commodity-driven currencies. In early trades, the Aussie was quoting at US$0.9148-US$0.9151, down 0.94% from Monday’s close of US$0.9234-US$0.9239.

Among other stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region,Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and Korea are trading notably lower. Most of the markets in the region had ended higher on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks gave up early gains and declined sharply on Monday amid a considerable pullback in the financial and commodity sectors. While the early strength came as traders reacted positively to the latest batch of earnings news and optimism about the third quarter GDP report, some negative analyst comments about the financial sector hurt sentiment during the latter part of the session.

The Dow closed with a loss of 104.2, or 1.1%, at 9,867.96, the Nasdaq declined 12.6 points, or 0.6%, to 2,141.8, and the S&P 500 ended down 12.7 points, or 1.2%, at 1,066.9.

Major European markets retreated by notable margins on Monday, with the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index falling by 1%, while the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index both closed down by 1.7%.

Crude oil prices plunged away from a yearly high on Monday as global equities fell, raising concerns over the economy. A stronger U.S. dollar also lessened oil’s hedge value. Light sweet crude for December delivery fell to US$78.68, down US$1.82 on the session.

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Posted in Categories: Australia, Canada, Eurozone, Japan, New Zealand, Releases, Stocks, USA.

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