Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably lower on Wednesday, after closing muted for three straight sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 8,900 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in gold miners and financial stocks partially offset by gains in energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 67.20 points or 0.75 percent to 8,882.20, after hitting a low of 8,878.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 68.20 points or 0.74 percent to 9,108.90. Australian stocks ended little changed on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 1 percent, while Fortescue is down almost 1 percent, Mineral Resources is losing more than 1 percent and Rio Tinto is edging down 0.4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy, Beach energy and Santos are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is edging down 0.5 percent.

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

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is down more than 1 percent, while National Australia bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Resolute Mining are slipping almost 3 percent each, while Northern Star Resources and Newmont are declining almost 2 percent each. Genesis Minerals is losing more than 2 percent.

In other news, shares in Cochlear are plummeting almost 38 percent after the medical device maker announced a massive downgrade in expected full year earnings amid weakened trading conditions for cochlear implants in developed markets in recent months.

Shares in Treasury Wine are jumping more than 14 percent after wine company announced that it is transitioning to a new regional operating model to improve efficiency. It also flagged another big restructure with the Penfolds business to no longer operate as a stand-alone division. Shares in Bank of Queensland are tumbling more than 9 percent after reporting downbeat results for the first half of 2026 on higher costs, margin pressure and restructuring, despite progress in its digital banking transformation.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.716 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks saw further downside over the course of the trading day on Tuesday following the modest pullback seen in the previous session. The major averages initially moved higher but slid firmly into negative territory as the day progressed.

The major averages ended the day just off their lows of the session. The Dow slid 293.18 points or 0.6 percent to 49,149.38, the Nasdaq declined 144.43 points or 0.6 percent to 24,529.96 and the S&P 500 fell 45.13 points or 0.6 percent to 7,064.01. The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slid by 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both slumped by 1.1 percent.

Crude oil prices continued to surge on Tuesday as the ongoing shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz kept supply disruption concerns alive. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $3.99 or 4.45 percent at $93.60 per barrel.