By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 eased just 2.50 points to 7,036.10 during Tuesday’s midday trade, extending losses of 1% in the previous session and tracking sharp losses in U.S. equities overnight, while Crude Oil prices continued to surge on the possibility that Washington could bar imports from Russia.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.1% lower.
Among stocks, declines in Energy and Materials weighed against gains in Health Care and Financials.
Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) lost 2.76%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) fell 2.94%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) shed 2.54% and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) dipped 1.66%.
Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) shed 2.33%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) lost 1.73%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) fell 1.7%, Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) dipped 3.52% and Bluescope Steel Ltd (ASX:BSL) retreated 6.39%.
Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) lost 3.66%, Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) fell 2.45%, Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) lost 2.39%, and Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) dipped 1.09% while Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) added 1.44% and Computershare Ltd. (ASX:CPU) lifted 0.8%.
Meantime, CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) is up 2.7%, Resmed Inc DRC (ASX:RMD) added 2.12% and Ramsay Health Care Ltd (ASX:RHC) gained 1.13%.
Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) added 1.2%, Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) gained 0.31%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) lifted 0.32%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) gained 0.55% and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) lifted 0.88%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were flat at 2.194% while United States 10-Year yields were at 1.765%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 was down 1.25% to 11,765.