Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading sharply lower on Wednesday, reversing the strong gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,400 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 127.10 points or 1.69 percent to 7,382.90, after hitting a low of 7,349.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 132.00 points or 1.71 percent to 7,572.40. Australian stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is slipping more than 4 percent, Rio Tinto is declining almost 5 percent, Mineral Resources is plunging more than 13 percent and Fortescue Metals is tumbling more than 5 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Santos are declining more than 3 percent each, while Beach energy is slipping almost 3 percent and Origin Energy is down more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is declining almost 4 percent, Appen is sliding more than 5 percent, WiseTech Global is slipping more than 3 percent, Xero is down more than 2 percent and Zip is tumbling 5.5 percent.

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

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing 1.5 percent, Resolute Mining is slipping more than 3 percent and Gold Road Resources is down more than 1 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Newmont are declining almost 1 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.596 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher early in the session on Tuesday but showed a substantial downturn over the course of the trading day. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session and tumbled firmly into negative territory.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but still posted significant losses on the day. The Nasdaq plunged 335.35 points or 2.2 percent to 15,267.91, the S&P 500 slumped 79.48 points or 1.6 percent to 4,982.77 and the Dow slid 320.01 points or 0.8 percent to 37,645.59.

Meanwhile, the major European markets showed strong moves back to the upside. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index shot up by 2.7 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both surged by 2.5 percent.

Crude oil prices once again came under pressure over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after showing a strong move to the upside early in the session. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery tumbled $1.12 or 1.9 percent to $59.58 a barrel, its lowest level since April 2021.