Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly lower on Wednesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 7,000 mark, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by weakness in materials and energy stocks as crude oil and iron ore prices tumbled.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 23.90 points or 0.34 percent to 6,974.40, after hitting a low of 6,937.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 22.30 points or 0.31 percent to 7,208.10. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing 2.5 percent, Mineral Resources is declining almost 2 percent, Rio Tinto is down almost 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is slipping more than 3 percent, while OZ Minerals is flat.

Oil stocks are lower. Santos is losing more than 2 percent, Woodside Energy is declining almost 4 percent, while Beach energy and Origin Energy are slipping almost 2 percent each.

In the tech space, Xero and Appen are up more than 1 percent each, while Zip is gaining almost 5 percent and Afterpay owner Block is advancing more than 3 percent. WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is edging up 0.5 percent, National Australia Bank is gaining more than 1 percent and Westpac is adding almost 1 percent. Commonwealth Bank is flat. Among gold miners, Resolute Mining, Gold Road Resources and Evolution Mining are flat, while Northern Star Resources and Newcrest Mining are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.686 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed another significant move to the downside during trading on Tuesday after extending last Friday's sell-off to start the week. The major averages all moved notably lower, ending the session at their worst levels in a month.

The major averages climbed off their lows of the session in late-day trading but remained firmly negative. The Dow slumped 308.12 points or 1 percent to 31,790.87, the Nasdaq plunged 134.53 points or 1.1 percent to 11,883.14 and the S&P 500 tumbled 44.45 points or 1.1 percent to 3,986.16.

Meanwhile, the major European markets finished the day mixed. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.9 percent.

Crude oil prices showed a substantial move to the downside during trading on Tuesday amid concerns higher interest rates will lead to a global economic slowdown, reducing energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery plunged $5.37 or 5 percent to $91.64 a barrel.