Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous four sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,300 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by weakness in financial, technology and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 37.40 points or 0.51 percent to 7,278.90, after hitting a low of 7,277.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 34.60 points or 0.46 percent to 7,468.20. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is edging down 0.3 percent. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is losing almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is declining more than 1 percent and Beach energy is edging down 0.5 percent, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.4 percent. In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is declining almost 2 percent, Xero is losing almost 1 percent and WiseTech Global is edging down 0.2 percent, while Appen is gaining almost 5 percent and Zip is up almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are losing more than 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging down 0.4 percent and Westpac is declining almost 1 percent. Among gold miners, Newcrest Mining is declining almost 1 percent, Gold Road Resources is down more than 1 percent, Evolution Mining is edging down 0.5 percent and Northern Star Resources is losing almost 2 percent, while Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.660 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stock indexes turned in a mixed performance during trading on Wednesday following the sell-off seen in the previous session. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq bounced off its lowest closing level in almost a month, the Dow and the S&P 500 saw further downside.

The Nasdaq pulled back well off its best levels of the day but still closed up 55.19 points or 0.5 percent at 11,854.35. Meanwhile, the Dow slid 228.96 points or 0.7 percent to 33,301.87, and the S&P 500 fell 15.64 points or 0.4 percent to 4,055.99.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both fell by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil futures ended sharply lower Wednesday as worries about the outlook for energy demand dragged down oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June were down $2.77 or 3.6 percent to settle at $74.30 a barrel.