Australia Market falls on miners, tech stocks weakness

Australia share market finished session modestly down on Friday, 12 August 2022, as investors opted to book some on yesterday's gain on following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight and COVID-19 lockdown in commodities hub Yiwu rattled sentiments.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 38.45 points, or 0.54%, to 7,032.51. The broader All Ordinaries index dropped by 36.55 points, or 0.5%, to 7,288.81.

Miners shares declined as a COVID-19 lockdown in commodities hub Yiwu rattled sentiment. BHP Group, the world's largest miner, dropped 0.7%, while Rio Tinto traded flat.

Technology stocks dropped on following decline of US peers overnight after a Fed official said that the central bank was open for a possibility of a 75 basis point increase in rates even after the softer-than-expected inflation data in July. ASX-listed shares of Block erased 4%.

Energy shares were up, with Oil and gas major Woodside Energy and Santos advancing 3.7% and 0.8% respectively.

Stanmore Resources shares soared nearly 11% after Coal explorer announcemed that it would buy the remaining 20% stake in a metallurgical coal venture in Queensland from Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co for US$380 million.

CURRENCY NEWS: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 105.257 after a recent drop from above 106. The Australian dollar was at $0.7123, above the $0.71 level.

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