Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading modestly lower on Wednesday, reversing some of the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling well below the 9,000 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 15.00 points or 0.17 percent to 8,997.50, after hitting a low of 8,997.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 9.00 points or 0.10 percent to 9,286.80. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Mineral Resources are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue are adding almost 1 percent each.

Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy and Santos are losing almost 1 percent each, while Beach energy is edging up 0.2 percent and Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Appen are flat, while Xero, Zip and WiseTech Global are losing almost 1 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia bank are losing more than 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Newmont is adding more than 1 percent. Resolute Mining is declining more than 4 percent and Genesis Minerals is losing more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Boss Energy are jumping almost 17 percent after the US pledge of US$80 billion to expand nuclear reactor purchases. The company's Honeymoon Uranium Project also reported record quarterly production.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.660 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Tuesday but largely maintained a positive bias and ended the day mostly higher. The major averages added to the strong gains posted during Monday's session, once again reaching new record closing highs.

The major averages pulled back off their highs in late-day trading but still closed in positive territory. The Nasdaq advanced 190.04 points or 0.8 percent to 23,827.49, the Dow climbed 161.78 points or 0.3 percent to 47,706.37 and the S&P 500 rose 15.73 points or 0.2 percent to 6,890.89.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Tuesday on news that OPEC is leaning toward another modest increase in production in December. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery plunged $1.32 or 2.2 percent to $59.99 a barrel.