Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is significantly lower on Thursday, giving up some of the gains in the previous three sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 7,800 level, with losses across most sectors led by technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 56.30 points or 0.72 percent to 7,792.20, after hitting a low of 7,752.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 59.40 points or 0.73 percent to 8,050.30. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is edging down 0.1 percent. BHP Group is edging up 0.4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Santos is gaining almost 1 percent. Beach energy is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Appen is losing almost 4 percent, Afterpay owner Block is down almost 1 percent, WiseTech Global is slipping more than 1 percent, Xero is declining almost 3 percent and Zip is sliding more than 6 percent.

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

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Newmont are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Resolute Mining is declining almost 3 percent, Gold Road Resources is gaining more than 2 percent and Northern Star Resources is adding almost 1 percent.

Shares in Avita Medical plunged 11 percent after the burns treatment business warned sales for the March quarter dropped below guidance. Avita also now slashed its sales guidance for the March quarter.

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

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower in early trading on Wednesday and continued to see significant weakness throughout the session. The major averages all showed notable moves to the downside, with the Dow falling to its lowest closing level in almost two months.

The major averages remained firmly negative going into the close of trading. The Dow tumbled 422.16 points or 1.1 percent to 38,461.51, the Nasdaq slid 136.28 points or 0.8 percent to 16,170.36 and the S&P 500 slumped 49.27 points or 1.0 percent to 5,160.64.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed after seeing strength earlier in the session. While the French CAC 40 Index edge down by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index crept up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday on rising geopolitical tensions amid reports of a likely strike by Iran against Israel. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.98 at $86.21 a barrel.