Asian Markets Mostly Lower

(RTTNews) - Despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday, dragged down by weakness in energy and mining stocks across the region due to tumbling commodity prices amid persisting worries about global economic slowdown. Asian Markets closed mixed on Wednesday.

The Australian market is notably lower on Thursday, extending the slight losses in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling towards the 7,000 mark, with particular weakness in in mining and energy stocks amid weaker commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 41.10 points or 0.58 percent to 7,032.30, after hitting a low of 7,029.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 41.20 points or 0.57 percent to 7,236.60. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, while Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are declining almost 1 percent each. Mineral Resources is edging up 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos and Beach energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is declining more than 1 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

In the tech space, WiseTech Global and Xero are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent. Zip is losing almost 3 percent and Appen is plummeting more than 31 percent after it said it is mulling the sale of a part or whole of its business.

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

Among gold miners, Resolute Mining is declining more than 3 percent, Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent, Gold Road Resources is slipping almost 2 percent and Northern Star Resources is sliding more than 2 percent. Newmont is flat.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to contract in November, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from Judo Bank revealed on Thursday with a manufacturing PMI score of 47.7. That's down from 48.2 in October and it moves further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI slipped to 46.3 in November from 47.9 in October. The composite index sank to 46.4 from 47.6 a month earlier. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.655 on Thursday.

The Japanese market is closed on account of Workers Day on Thursday. Japanese stocks closed modestly higher on Wednesday.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 149 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.1 and 0.3 percent each. Indonesia is up 1.1 percent, while South Korea and China are up 0.2 percent each.

On Wall Street, stocks moved back to the upside during trading on Wednesday following the pullback seen during the previous session. The major averages gave back ground after an early surge but managed to remain in positive territory.

The Dow advanced 184.74 points or 0.5 percent to35,273.03 and the S&P 500 climbed 18.43 points or 0.4 percent to 4,556.62, reaching their best closing levels in over three months, while the Nasdaq rose 65.88 points or 0.5 percent to 14,265.86.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both climbed by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower Wednesday after data showed a notable increase in crude inventory in the U.S., and after OPEC postponed a key meeting by four days. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $0.67 or 0.86 percent at $77.10 a barrel.