Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly lower on Thursday, reversing the gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,767 level, with weakness across most sectors led by gold miners, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 33.30 points or 0.38 percent to 8,775.10, after hitting a low of 8,715.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 32.90 points or 0.37 percent to 8,979.70. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are declining more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is losing almost 3 percent. Fortescue is edging up 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is tumbling more than 5 percent and Origin Energy is edging down 0.1 percent, while Santos and Woodside Energy are losing almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is surging almost 6 percentZip is gaining almost 1 percent, while Appen is edging down 0.3 percent, WiseTech Global is losing more than 4 percent and Xero is down more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Westpac are declining more than 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is losing more than 3 percent and Commonwealth Bank is down almost 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Newmont are losing almost 2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is declining more than 2 percent, Genesis Minerals is tumbling almost 6 percent and Resolute Mining is sliding almost 5 percent.

In other news, shares in Judo Capital are plummeting 38 percent after the lender downgraded its profit guidance for FY26 amid a deterioration in asset quality that has lifted provisioning charges.

Shares in Lendlease Group are in a trading halt, pending further updates from the company.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.689 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks were unable to hold onto early gains on Wednesday, slumping in the second half of the day to finish mixed. Profit taking was largely responsible for the late fade, although investors remain spooked about the possibility of an interest rate hike following recent uncooperative inflation data.

The Dow climbed 182.06 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 51,848.90, while the NASDAQ slumped 110.40 points or 0.43 percent to close at 25,476.63 and the S&P 500 slipped 7.24 points or 0.10 percent to end at 7,358.22.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. The UK's FTSE 100 climbed 0.31 percent and Germany's DAX moved up 0.54 percent, while France's CAC 40 slipped 0.62 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Wednesday as shipping traffic picks up across the Strait of Hormuz after its reopening following last week's U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding. WTI Crude Oil for August month delivery was last seen trading down by $2.87 or 3.92 percent at $70.34 per barrel.