Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 8,200 level, with a mixed performance across most sectors as a mixed domestic quarterly inflation report reduced expectations for an immediate rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 15.40 points or 0.19 percent to 8,165.00, after hitting a low of 8,145.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 13.40 points or 0.16 percent to 8,426.10. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is adding almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is skyrocketing almost 17 percent after it struck a $1.1 billion deal to sell its oil and gas assets to Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting.

Oil stocks are mixed. Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent and Origin Energy is edging up 0.3 percent, while Woodside Energy and Santos are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.1 percent, Zip is advancing almost 2 percent, WiseTech Global is gaining more than 1 percent, while Xero is losing almost 1 percent and Appen is down 1.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.5 percent, while National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is surging more than 4 percent, while Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent and Newmont is declining more than 2 percent. Resolute Mining is flat

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.657 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout much of the session on Wednesday but came under pressure in the latter part of the trading day. The major averages spent most of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before sliding more firmly into negative territory.

After reaching a new record intraday high in early trading, the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 104.82 points or 0.6 percent to 18,607.93. The S&P 500 also dipped 19.25 points or 0.3 percent to 5,813.67, while the Dow slipped 91.51 points or 0.2 percent to 42,151.54.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both slumped by 1.1 percent.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week and on reports that OPEC may delay its planned output increase. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $1.40 or 2.1 percent at $68.61 a barrel.