Australia Market trades lower on political uncertainty

Headline indices of the Australia market were lower on Monday, 22 October 2018, following the mixed cues from Wall Street Friday and on political uncertainty after news that Australia's ruling Liberal Party was poised to lose its one-seat majority in parliament after a large swing against it in a weekend by-election in Sydney. Almost all ASX sectors were losing ground with shares of healthcare, mining, industrial and consumer discretionary issues being notable losers. In late-afternoon trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 35.39 points, or 0.6%, at 5,904.10 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index shed 36.95 points, or 0.61%, to 6,005.80 points.

The country's Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, who ascended to the role after ousting Malcolm Turnbull in August, will meet independent lawmakers in a bid to shore up support for his government. If the prime minister fails to secure support from independent lawmakers to continue to govern, it potentially sets the stage for early elections, which were otherwise not due until May 2019.

Shares of materials and resources companies were also mostly lower despite copper and nickel finishing last week higher. BHP fell almost 1% and Rio Tinto shed 0.5%, while Fortescue Metals rose 0.5%.

Gold miners were mixed after gold prices edged lower Friday. Evolution Mining rose almost 1%, while Newcrest Mining declined by 0.6%.

Shares of Australian banks and financials saw losses, with ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank were down in a range of 0.5% to 0.9%.

Energy, infotech and telco stocks posted losses, with Flight Centre Travel shares down as much as 12% after investors were left unimpressed by the company's outlook at Monday's annual general meeting.

CURRENCY: Australian Dollar was higher against greenback and other major currencies on Monday. The Australian dollar was quoted at $0.7115, up from $0.7109 on Friday.

OFFSHORE MARKET: US stock market closed mixed on Friday, as concerns about rising interest rates and tensions between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia continued to weigh on the markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 64.89 points or 0.3% to 25,444.34, while the Nasdaq fell 36.11 points or 0.5% to 7,449.03 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.00 points or less than a tenth of a% to 2.767.78.

European markets also ended mixed on Friday. The German DAX Index dipped by 0.3% and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.6%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3%.

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