Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,200 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with weakness across most sectors, led by technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 27.00 points or 0.37 percent to 7,232.90, after hitting a low of 7,227.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 29.00 points or 0.39 percent to 7,418.40. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Fortescue Metals, Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while BHP Group is flat. Oil stocks are higher. Beach energy, Woodside Energy and Santos are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Appen is losing more than 2 percent, Zip is declining more than 3 percent and WiseTech Global is edging down 0.1 percent, while Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent. Xero is flat.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among gold miners, Resolute Mining is gaining almost 3 percent, Gold Road Resources is up more than 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.5 percent, while Evolution Mining and Newcrest Mining are adding almost 1 percent each.

In other news, shares in Webjet are up more than 3 percent after the online travel agency reported full-year revenues that more than doubled from last as demand for travel rebounds from the pandemic. It also swung to a profit.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.661 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday after staying weak right through the day's session due to sustained selling at several counters. A lack of significant progress in U.S. debt ceiling negotiations weighed on sentiment. Traders largely shrugged off data showing fairly sharp growth in the nation's private sector activity.

The major averages all ended notably lower. The Dow ended lower by 231.07 points or 0.69 percent at 33,055.51. The S&P 500 ended down 47.05 points or 1.12 percent at 4,145.58, while the Nasdaq settled at 12,560.25, down 160.53 points or 1.26 percent.

The major European markets also closed lower, weighed down by concerns about growth after data showed a contraction in eurozone manufacturing activity, and U.S. debt ceiling worries and signs of increasing Sino-U.S. tensions. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX dropped 0.44 percent and France's CAC fell 1.33 percent.