Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading modestly lower on Wednesday, adding to the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 8,900 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in mining, energy and technology stocks partially offset by gains in financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 16.50 points or 0.19 percent to 8,879.70, after hitting a low of 8,857.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 24.60 points or 0.27 percent to 9,149.20. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Mineral Resources are losing almost 2 percent each, while Fortescue is down more than 1 percent and Rio Tinto is edging down 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are losing more than 1 percent each, while Santos is edging down 0.3 percent. Origin Energy is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is declining more than 2 percent, Zip is slipping more than 3 percent, Xero is edging down 0.1 percent and Appen is down almost 2 percent, while WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac, ANZ Banking and National Australia bank are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are losing almost 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining is sliding almost 5 percent, Northern Star Resources is slipping 2.5 percent and Newmont is declining more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in James Hardie are plummeting almost 26 percent after reporting down beat quarterly results and disappointing earnings guidance.

Shares in Lynch Group are skyrocketing more than 23 percent after TPG Capital's Hasfarm Holdings floated a $270 million takeover bid for the Australian flower company at $2.245 per share.

Shares in Magellan Financial are jumping more than 7 percent after it lifted annual dividend 12 percent, despite down beat results.

Shares in Lottery Corp. are surging almost 9 percent after the lottery and gaming operator reported upbeat full-year results and lifted dividend.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.645 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after ending Monday's choppy session little changed. The tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a particularly steep loss, although the Dow ended the day roughly flat.

The Nasdaq ended the day just off its lows of the session, tumbling 314.82 points or 1.5 percent to 21,314.95. The S&P 500 also slid 37.78 points or 0.6 percent to 6,411.37. Meanwhile, the Dow inched up 10.45 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 44,922.27 after reaching a record intraday high in early trading.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices declined on Tuesday amid supply side concerns as OPEC continues to unwind 2.2 million barrels per day in voluntary cuts by its member nations. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $1.07 or 1.69 percent at $62.35 per barrel.