Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading sharply lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling well below the 8,950 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness across most sectors led by gold miners and financial stocks as concerns over the inflationary impact of the Middle East conflict weighed on market sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 166.60 points or 1.84 percent to 8,910.70, after hitting a low of 8,907.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 167.40 points or 1.80 percent to 9,129.80. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is declining more than 4 percent, Rio Tinto is losing almost 2 percent and Fortescue is slipping almost 3 percent, while Mineral Resources is edging up 0.5 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos and Origin Energy are losing more than 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is edging down 0.4 percent and Beach energy is down almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 1 percent, Zip is declining more than 2 percent and Appen is edging down 0.3 percent, while Xero is advancing almost 3 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is losing almost 2 percent, while National Australia bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank are down almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is tumbling more than 6 percent, Resolute Mining is declining almost 6 percent, Northern Star Resources is slipping more than 5 percent, Newmont is sliding almost 7 percent and Genesis Minerals is plunging almost 8 percent.

In economic news, Australia's gross domestic product expanded a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2025, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. That beat forecasts for an increase of 0.7 percent and was up from 0.4 percent in the three months prior. On a yearly basis, GDP rallied 2.6 percent - again beating expectations for 2.1 percent, which would have been steady from the previous quarter.

Nominal GDP rose 1.8 percent. The GDP implicit price deflator (IPD) rose 1.0 percent, reflecting a rise in the domestic final demand deflator (+0.8 percent) alongside a rise in the terms of trade (+0.4 percent).

Meanwhile, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in February, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Wednesday, with a services PMI score of 52.8. That's down from 56.3 in January, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the composite index slipped to 52.4 in February from 55.7 in January.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.702 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks once again staged a recovery attempt after another sell-off at the start of trading on Tuesday, but did have as much success as Monday and still ended the day notably lower. While the major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day, they remained firmly in negative territory.

The Dow ended the day down 403.51 points or 0.8 percent at 48,502.27 after plummeting by more than 1,200 points, the Nasdaq slumped 232.17 points or 1.0 percent to 22,516.69 and the S&P 500 slid 64.99 points or 0.9 percent to 6,816.63. The major European markets all also showed substantial moves to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index dove by 3.5 percent, the German DAX Index plummeted by 3.4 percent, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index tumbled by 2.8 percent.

Crude oil prices continued to spike in response to the conflict, raising worries the jump in prices will lead to higher inflation. Supply concerns were also worsened by the attacks on several oil refineries, including Saudi Aramco's oil facility in Ras Tanura. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery surged $3.35 or 4.7 percent to $74.58 a barrel.