Australian shares have closed lower despite early gains boosted by tech and mining stocks.
The ASX 200 was down 0.2 per cent, to 7,279, breaking a three-day winning streak from last week.
Industrial, health care and financial sectors were dragging the benchmark index lower.
Financials declined 0.6 per cent, with the country's four largest lenders dropping between 0.5 per cent and 1 per cent.
Gold stocks dropped 2 per cent as demand for the safe-haven metal was hit by hopes of progress in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the fallout from a US interest rate hike.
Northern Star Resources and Newcrest Mining fell 2.4 per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively.
Among the worst performers were De Grey Mining (-7.7pc), Atlas Arteria (-3.7pc) and Clinuvel Pharmacy (-4.9pc).
However, technology stocks tracked their US peers higher, to climb 2.5 per cent, their highest level since early February.
Block surged 9.2 per cent, to $184.40, while Life360 was up 6.4 per cent, to $5.62, and Eml Payments was up 6.1 per cent, to $2.61.
Miners rose 0.3 per cent in their fourth straight day of gains, as iron ore prices scaled a one-week high on Friday.
Sector heavyweights Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals Group and BHP rose between 0.1 and 0.8 per cent.
Energy stocks gained 0.4 per cent after oil prices surged on Monday.
Brent crude was up 3.3 per cent, trading at $US111.52 a barrel.
Tony Sycamore, senior market analyst from City Index, said today's session was a disappointing start to the week.
"After punching through numerous headwinds last week, today’s reversal lower indicates stocks will find sellers at higher levels as the ugly macroeconomic backdrop of persistently high inflation, a full-scale war in Europe, sanctions, price shocks in commodities, and tighter monetary policy persists."
Douglass resigns from Magellan
Meanwhile, Magellan Financial Group (MFG) co-founder Hamish Douglass has resigned from the board.
He stepped down as chairman in February after seeking medical leave.
MFG said that "his resignation as a director of the Magellan Board is due solely to his medical leave of absence".
Its shares were down 4.3 per cent to $15.06.
Logistics services provider Qube has announced an off-market $400 million buy-back.
The company's half-year results posted record underlying earnings following strong financial performance and completion of the Moorebank Logistics Park transaction, which have "contributed to a strong capital position, allowing [Qube] to announce the [buy-back]".
Shareholder registry firm Link Administration rose 1.2 per cent to $5.15.
The company said it received a conditional, non-binding proposal from wealth management platform operator FNZ Group to buy LNK's retirement & superannuation solutions unit for $1.5 billion.
Woolworths shed 0.6 per cent, to $35.84, after the company's announcement it would phase out its 15-cent plastic shopping bags in Western Australia over the next month.
The Australian dollar was down, at 74 US cents.
Wall Street rallies
Global equity markets gained on Friday after traders cheered a Russian bond payment that averted a historic sovereign default, while gold prices dropped as demand for the safe-haven metal eased after the start of the US interest rate hike cycle.
The Russian finance ministry announced on Thursday that it had sent funds to cover $US117 million in coupon payments on $US2-denominated sovereign bonds that came due this week.
Those payments calmed investor worries that a Russia sovereign default, which would have been its first in a century, could rattle already nervous markets. Western sanctions have hobbled Russia's financial dealings since it invaded Ukraine on February 24.
"If you think about where we could have been if Western governments had disallowed the use of frozen funds for coupon payments on Russian sovereign bonds, we would be sitting on a default [by] a world economy," said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group in Virginia.
"As a result of that, some of the biggest impacts to the global financial system are being put off into the future: That's good."
MSCI's gauge of world stocks, which tracks equities in 50 countries across the globe gained 0.9 per cent.
European stocks closed higher as peace talks to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict continued amid heavy fighting.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.9 per cent.
Wall Street's three major indexes closed higher, boosted by recently battered technology stocks, after talks between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping over the Ukraine crisis ended without any big surprises.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8 per cent, to 34,754.93, the S&P 500 gained 1.17 per cent, to 4,463.12, and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.05 per cent, to 13,893.84.
"We're in the middle of a relief rally after such a deep sell-off in tech in advance of the likely path of rates by the Fed. Now that they've basically removed all the uncertainty about rates, tech stocks can reprice," Cox added.
ABC/Reuters
