Australian Market Falls Ahead Of RBA Decision

The Australian stock market is falling on Tuesday following the negative cues from Wall Street amid worries about a further escalation in U.S.-China trade tensions. The U.S. Treasury Department, for the first time since 1994, designated China a currency manipulator after Beijing allowed its currency to breach a psychological level in response to the latest U.S. tariffs.

Investors are also cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy decision due later today. The central bank is widely expected to leave its benchmark lending rate at the record low of 1.00 percent.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 173.70 points or 2.62 percent to 6,466.60, after falling to a low of 6,444.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is falling 182.10 points or 2.71 percent to 6,528.50. Australian stocks extended losses to a fourth straight session on Monday.

In the tech space, Appen and WiseTech Global are falling more than 7 percent each, while Afterpay Touch is losing almost 6 percent.

Oil stocks are weak after crude oil prices fell sharply overnight. Santos is falling almost 5 percent, Oil Search is losing more than 4 percent and Woodside Petroleum is lower by more than 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Westpac are losing almost 3 percent each, while National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are lower by more than 2 percent each.

In the mining space, Fortescue Metals is lower by more than 2 percent, BHP Group is declining almost 2 percent and Rio Tinto is declining almost 1 percent.

Bucking the trend, gold miners are advancing as prices of the safe-haven metal rose sharply overnight to their highest settlement since early May 2013. Newcrest Mining is gaining almost 3 percent and Evolution Mining is rising almost 2 percent.

On the economic front, Australia will also see June trade data and July numbers for job advertisements today.

In the currency market, the Australian dollar is slightly lower against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday. The local currency was quoted at $0.6768, compared to $0.6771 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks extended the sell-off seen over the past few sessions amid concerns about the escalating U.S.-China trade war, with a drop in the value of the Chinese yuan further fueling speculation Beijing is devaluing its currency to counter President Donald Trump's latest tariff threat. A report from Bloomberg News indicating China has asked state-owned companies to suspend purchases of U.S. agricultural products also raised concerns about the impact of the escalating trade dispute.

The Dow plunged 767.27 points or 2.9 percent to 25,717.74, the Nasdaq plummeted 278.03 points or 3.5 percent to 7,726.04 and the S&P 500 dove 87.31 points or 3 percent to 2,844.74.

The major European markets also showed significant moves to the downside on Monday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index plunged by 2.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index plummeted by 2.2 percent and the German DAX Index slumped by 1.8 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Monday as concerns over energy demand rose amid escalating trade tensions after the U.S. proposed a 10 percent tariff on additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports. WTI crude for September declined $0.97 or about 1.7 percent to close at $54.69 a barrel.