Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading modestly lower on Wednesday, reversing the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling to near the 8,850 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in mining and financial stocks partially offset by gains in energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 29.30 points or 0.33 percent to 8,857.50, after hitting a low of 8,820.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 23.80 points or 0.26 percent to 8,985.10. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources and Fortescue are edging down 0.2 percent each.

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

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is surging almost 7 percent on upbeat quarterly results, while Appen and WiseTech Global are gaining almost 2 percent each. Zip and Xero are edging down 0.3 percent each.

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

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is edging up 0.1 percent and Genesis Minerals is gaining more than 1 percent, while Resolute Mining is losing more than 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.5 percent. Newmont is flat.

In economic news, the services sector in Australia fell into contraction territory in October, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Wednesday with a services PMI score of 48.5. That's down from 51.9 in September, and it slips beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the composite index fell to 48.2 in October from 51.3 in September.

Meanwhile, Australian household spending rose 0.6 percent on month in September 2026, rebounding from a downwardly revised 0.1 percent decline in the prior month and marking its seventh monthly increase this year. On an annual basis, household spending growth accelerated to 6.8 percent from 6.5 percent in August.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.697 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stock indexes once again moved in opposite directions during trading on Tuesday after turning mixed over the course of the previous session. While the Nasdaq and S&P 500 rebounded following Monday's significant downturn, the narrower Dow moved back to the downside.

The Nasdaq advanced 207.65 points or 0.8 percent to 25,372.01 and the S&P 500 rose 27.52 points or 0.4 percent to 7,568.92, but the Dow fell 197.26 points or 0.4 percent to 51,786.72. Meanwhile, the major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped 1.1 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices turned lower on Tuesday amid rising expectations on a possible settlement between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.52 or 0.54 percent at $95.94 per barrel.