Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly lower on Wednesday, snapping the seven-session winning streak, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,300 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with losses in materials and energy stocks amid tumbling commodity prices, partially offset by strength in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 15.00 points or 0.20 percent to 7,342.80, after hitting a low of 7,332.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 17.30 points or 0.23 percent to 7,531.20. Australian stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Fortescue Metals is losing more than 3 percent and BHP Group is declining almost 2 percent, while Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are down almost 1 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos and Beach energy are down almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is losing more than 1 percent and Origin Energy is edging down 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 2 percent, Xero is up almost 1 percent and Appen is advancing 1.5 percent, while WiseTech Global and Zip are adding more than 1 percent each. Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are gaining almost 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Gold Road Resources, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are losing more than 2 percent each, while Newcrest Mining is down 1.5 percent and Resolute Mining is slipping almost 6 percent.

In other news, shares in TPG Telecom shares are slipping almost 9 percent on news the Australian Competition Tribunal has blocked its regional network sharing arrangement with Telstra.

Shares in Rex Airlines are also plunging more than 15 percent after it revealed that it no longer expects to make a profit for the full-year 2023 and will swing to an operational loss of $35 million.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.678 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks regained some ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after coming under pressure early in the session, but still closed mostly lower. The major averages extended the pullback seen late in last Friday's session.

The major averages all finished the day in negative territory. The Dow slid 245.25 points or 0.7 percent to 34,053.87, the S&P 500 fell 20.88 points or 0.5 percent to 4,388.71 and the Nasdaq dipped 22.28 points or 0.2 percent to 13,667.29.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slid by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both fell by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday amid concerns that further tightening by the Federal Reserve and other central banks may impact global economic growth and weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.74 at $71.19 a barrel.