Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading sharply lower on Thursday, giving up the gains in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 7,800 level, with weakness across most sectors led by iron ore miners and technology stocks. Gold miners were the only bright spot.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 147.70 points or 1.86 percent to 7,786.80, after hitting a low of 7,768.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 150.10 points or 1.85 percent to 7,983.00. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources is slipping almost 6 percent and Fortescue Metals is declining more than 3 percent, while BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing more than 2 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy and Santos is losing almost 2 percent each, while Origin Energy is down more than 1 percent and Woodside Energy is declining more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are losing almost 3 percent each, while Appen is declining more than 3 percent, Zip is slipping more than 8 percent and Xero is down almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is down almost 1 percent and Westpac is losing almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are declining more than 2 percent each. Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 2 percent and Newmont is adding more than 2 percent, while Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each. Resolute Mining is losing almost 2 percent.

In economic news, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in March, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Thursday with a services PMI score of 51.6. That's up from 50.8 in February, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.627 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks once again recovered from an early slump to end Wednesday's trading mostly higher, adding to the gains posted in the previous session. The major averages climbed well off their lows to end the day firmly in positive territory.

The major averages gave back ground in early afternoon trading but moved back to the upside going into the close. The Nasdaq advanced 151.16 points or 0.9 percent to 7,601.05, the S&P 500 climbed 37.90 points or 0.7 percent to 5,670.97 and the Dow rose 235.36 points or 0.6 percent to 42,225.32.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slid by 0.7 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.3 percent and the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices ticked higher again on Wednesday, despite data showing an unexpected increase by U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery rose $0.51 or 0.7 percent to $71.71 a barrel.