Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading notably lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous seven sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,650 level, with weakness in mining stocks partially offset by gains in financial, technology and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 44.10 points or 0.51 percent to 8,642.90, after hitting a low of 8,638.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 46.10 points or 0.52 percent to 8,869.60. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are losing almost 2 percent each, while Fortescue is declining more than 2 percent. Mineral Resources is advancing more than 4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy and Santos are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is adding almost 1 percent and Origin Energy is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Zip are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while WiseTech Global and Xero are gaining almost 2 percent each. Appen is plummeting more than 26 percent on first-quarter sales update and guidance.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is adding more than 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are losing almost 3 percent each, while Newmont is slipping almost 2 percent, Genesis Minerals is sliding almost 6 percent and Resolute Mining is declining almost 4 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.713 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday following the pullback seen in the previous session. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq crept up 9.44 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 24,673.24, the S&P 500 edged down 2.85 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 7,135.95 and the narrower Dow ended the day more firmly negative, sliding 280.12 points or 0.6 percent to 48,861.81.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index dipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices surged again on Wednesday as an end to the Middle East war still remains elusive, keeping the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz in place. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was up $6.79 or 6.79 percent at $106.72 per barrel.