Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling to near the 8,700 level, with weakness in mining and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 26.70 points or 0.31 percent to 8,701.00, after hitting a low of 8,677.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 37.60 points or 0.42 percent to 8,857.00. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 3 percent, Mineral Resources is slipping more than 5 percent, Fortescue is sliding more than 4 percent and Rio Tinto is declining more than 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Origin Energy is adding more than 1 percent and Santos is advancing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block are edging down 0.5 percent, WiseTech Global is losing more than 1 percent, Appen is declining almost 3 percent and Zip is slipping almost 2 percent, while Xero is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Genesis Minerals are slipping almost 2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is declining more than 1 percent, Resolute Mining is edging down 0.3 percent and Newmont is down almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Maas Group are plunging almost 22 percent after the troubled IPO of AI infrastructure and data center firm Firmus as its IPO faces repricing and cutting its target market valuation.

Shares in Lovisa Holdings are tumbling almost 7 percent after Its CFO resigned.

In economic news, Australia's consumer inflation expectations rose to 5.3 percent in October 2026, up from 4.9 percent in the prior two months and reaching their highest level since June. The outlook was reinforced by August data showing trimmed mean CPI remained elevated at 3.6 percent on year, its highest since September 2024 and above the Reserve Bank of Australia's 2-3 percent target range.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.696 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw an initial pullback on Wednesday but regained ground over the course of the trading day, after trending higher over the past several sessions. The major averages climbed well off their lows of the session, although they still closed in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day down 61.20 points or 0.2 percent to 27,538.69 after slumping by as much as 0.9 percent in early trading. The S&P 500 also dipped 17.16 points or 0.2 percent to 7,801.77, while the narrower Dow slid 341.41 points or 0.7 percent to 51,179.87.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day, While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index declined by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.2 percent and the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.4 percent.

Crude oil prices slumped again on Wednesday, unable to hold early gains after the International Energy Agency announced member states have expressed support for accelerating the oil stock releases. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down $1.15 or 1.3 percent at $88.29 a barrel.