Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is significantly lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,200 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in energy and mining stocks amid tumbling commodity prices. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 59.20 points or 0.82 percent to 7,150.10, after hitting a low of 7,149.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 59.90 points or 0.81 percent to 7,327.40. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Fortescue Metals is losing almost 2 percent and BHP Group is declining 1.5 percent, while Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are down more than 1 percent each. Oil stocks are lower. Beach energy is declining more than 3 percent, Woodside Energy is losing more than 2 percent and Santos is down 1.5 percent, while Origin Energy is flat.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Zip are declining more than 1 percent each, while WiseTech Global and Xero are adding almost 1 percent each. Appen is soaring more than 9 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Gold Road Resources is losing almost 2 percent and Evolution Mining is down almost 1 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Newcrest Mining are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each. Resolute Mining is flat.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.651 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as the mood turned cautious around mid-afternoon with investors awaiting the passage of the debt ceiling deal. Stocks, particularly from the technology section, started off on a firm note, although the broad market, however, was somewhat sluggish.

The major averages ended mixed. The Dow ended with a modest loss of 50.56 points or 0.15 percent at 33,042.78 and the S&P 500 settled at 4,205.52, little changed from the previous close, while the Nasdaq ended up 41.74 points or 0.32 percent at 13,017.43.

The major European markets ended notably lower as investors stayed cautious, awaiting the passage of the U.S. debt ceiling deal. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 dropped 1.38 percent, Germany's DAX ended lower by 0.27 percent, and France's CAC 40 fell 1.29 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Tuesday, weighed down by doubts about China's economic recovery and uncertainty over whether the Congress will pass the debt deal this week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended down $3.21 or 4.4 percent at $69.46 a barrel.