Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly lower on Thursday, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling up to near the 8,900 level, with weakness in gold miner and energy stocks. Most other sectors displayed a mixed performance.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 16.80 points or 0.19 percent to 8,911.00, after hitting a low of 8,898.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 21.70 points or 0.24 percent to 9,182.90. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Fortescue is down almost 1 percent and BHP Group is losing more than 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is losing almost 1 percent and Beach energy is declining more than 1 percent, while Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.5 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 3 percent and Xero is advancing more than 3 percent. WiseTech Global is losing almost 3 percent, while Zip and Appen are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is edging down 0.3 percent. National Australia Bank is flat.

Among gold miners, Resolute Mining and Evolution Mining are edging down 0.2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent, Genesis Minerals is down almost 3 percent and Newmont is slipping almost 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.700 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, technology stocks showed another significant move to the downside during trading on Wednesday after weighing on the markets during Tuesday's session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped to its lowest closing level in over a month after flirting with its record highs just a week.

The Nasdaq ended the day off its lows of the session but still tumbled 350.61 points or 1.5 percent to 22,904.58. The S&P 500 also slid 35.09 points or 0.5 percent to 6,882.72, while the narrower Dow climbed 260.31 points or 0.5 percent to 49,501.30.

The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.9 percent and the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.0 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said inventories in the U.S. fell far more than expected. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $1.97 or 3.12 percent at $65.18 per barrel.