Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous five sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling well below the 9,050 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in mining and financial stocks partially offset by gains in energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 42.30 points or 0.47 percent to 9,027.70, after hitting a low of 9,019.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 42.10 points or 0.45 percent to 9,232.10. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent, Mineral Resources is down almost 1 percent and Rio Tinto is edging down 0.4 percent, while Fortescue is gaining more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy, Origin Energy and Santos are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Beach energy is down almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is edging down 0.5 percent, Zip is losing more than 1 percent and Appen is down more than 1 percent, while WiseTech Global is edging up 0.4 percent and Xero is adding almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and ANZ Banking are losing almost 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank and National Australia bank edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining, Resolute Mining and Newmont are losing almost 2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources and Genesis Minerals are down more than 2 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.708 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday, extending the pullback seen over the two previous sessions. The Nasdaq showed a significant move to the downside on the day, reflecting weakness among tech stocks.

The major averages all ended the day in negative territory. The Nasdaq slumped 355.20 points or 1.3 percent to 26,289.71, the S&P 500 slid 53.30 points or 0.7 percent to 7,691.76 and the Dow fell 116.38 points or 0.2 percent to 53,343.40. The major European markets have all also moved to the downside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both slid by 0.8 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Tuesday as hopes for U.S.-Iran talks over the Strait of Hormuz have faded. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $0.39 or 0.46 percent at $84.89 per barrel.