CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Monday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, on rising oil prices and global inflation worries amid uncertainty in the Middle East conflict. Traders also remain cautious ahead of the interest rate decision this week from the central banks in the US, Japan and the Eurozone. Asian markets closed mixed on Friday.
The three central banks are widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged before potentially raising them later this year.
Concerns about supply disruptions in the Middle East continue to drive the price of crude oil higher amid continued attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthi militia of Yemen against Saudi Arabia.
Reports suggesting that the U.S. and Israeli are planning to renew military operations against Iran after the midterm elections have also contributed to the spike in crude oil prices.
Australian stock market is slightly higher on Monday after opening in the red, extending the slight gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving above the 8,800.00 level, with gains in mining and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in financial stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 11.00 points or 0.13 percent to 8,806.20, after hitting a low of 8,722.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 15.60 points or 0.18 percent to 8,921.40. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Friday.
Among the major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.
Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy is gaining more than 1 percent and Santos is adding almost 2 percent, while Origin Energy is losing more than 1 percent and Beach energy is declining more than 2 percent.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 3 percent, while Xero edging up 0.3 percent, Appen is advancing almost 6 percent and Zip is jumping more than 9 percent. WiseTech Global is flat.
Gold miners are mostly higher. Genesis Minerals and Resolute Mining are adding more than 3 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is advancing almost 2 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent and Newmont is edging down 0.3 percent.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are all losing more than 1 percent each.
In other news, shares in Ingenia Communities Group are jumping more than 6 percent after the company revealed it received an unsolicited takeover proposal from AVID Property Group, backed by international investors.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.703 on Monday.
The Japanese stock market is notably lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 62,250 level, with weakness is index heavyweights and technology stocks partially offset by gains in financial stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 62,214.66, down 478.50 points or 0.76 percent, after touching a high of 62,902.95 and a low of 62,094.34 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also edging down 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.2 percent and Toyota is also edging up 0.4 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining more than 3 percent and Screen Holdings is slipping more than 4 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is adding almost 1 percent.
The major exporters are mixed. Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Canon and Panasonic are gaining almost 1 percent each.
Among the other major losers, Sumco is declining more than 4 percent, while Kokusai Electric, Mercari, Resonac Holdings, Kioxia Holdings and IHI are losing more than 3 percent each. Renesas Electronics and Sumitomo Electric Industries are down almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, Inpex is surging almost 5 percent, while Mitsubishi and JGC Holdings are advancing almost 4 percent each. Sumitomo is gaining more than 3 percent, while Taiyo Yuden, Takashimaya, Itochu, Mitsui & Co. and ENEOS Holdings are adding almost 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 156 yen-range on Monday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea is down 1.2 percent, while China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are lower by between 0.1 and 0.5 percent each. New Zealand is closed for Labor Day and Taiwan is closed for Restoration Day.
On Wall Street, stocks saw further downside over the course of the trading day on Friday following the sell-off seen during Thursday's session. The major averages all ended the day in negative territory, with the Dow showing a particularly steep drop.
The Dow slumped 652.82 points or 1.2 percent to 52,215.16, the S&P 500 also fell 39.75 or 0.5 percent to 7,623.68 and the Nasdaq slipped 53.52 points or 0.2 percent to 25,955.34.
The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slid by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices spiked on Friday amid rising fears of fresh U.S.-Iran conflict, as well as the ongoing Houthi-Saudi Arabia violence. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $3.54 or 3.56 percent at $103.01 per barrel.
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