Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading modestly lower on Wednesday, adding to the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 8,800 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by tumbling mining, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 19.40 points or 0.22 percent to 8,794.30, after hitting a low of 8,788.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 35.80 points or 0.39 percent to 9,062.40. Australian stocks ended significantly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent and Fortescue is tumbling almost 4 percent, while Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are declining almost 3 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Santos are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Beach energy is losing almost 2 percent. Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are losing more than 1 percent each, while WiseTech Global is down almost 1 perrcent, Zip is slipping 3.5 percent and Appen is sliding more than 4 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac is edging up 0.3 percent, National Australia bank is gaining almost 1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is adding more than 1 percent, while ANZ Banking is edging down 0.1 percent. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is declining more than 4 percent, Newmont is down almost 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is slipping more than 3 percent, Genesis Minerals is losing almost 4 percent and Resolute Mining is tumbling almost 11 percent after acknowledging that the situation in Mali "continues to be unpredictable." The Syama gold mine in Mali is one of Resolute's key assets.

In economic news, the service sector in Australia continued to expand in October, and at a slightly faster rate, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Wednesday with a PMI score of 52.5. That's up marginally from 52.4 in September, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.648 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks staged a recovery attempt an early slump on Tuesday but showed a notable move back to the downside over the course of the trading session. The major averages all moved lower on the day following the mixed performance seen during trading on Monday.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a particularly steep loss on the day, plunging 486.09 points or 2.0 percent to 23,348.64. The S&P 500 also slumped 80.42 points or 1.2 percent to 6,771.55, while the narrower Dow slid 251.44 points or 0.5 percent to 47,085.24.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. The German DAX Index declined by 0.8 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.5 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices declined sharply on Tuesday due to excess supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.44 or 0.72 percent at $60.61 per barrel.