Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading significantly lower on Wednesday, adding to the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling well below the 9,050 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by tumbling gold mining stocks as bullion prices recorded its biggest intra-day drop in nearly 12 years.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 84.50 points or 0.93 percent to 9,010.20, after hitting a low of 9,002.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 94.30 points or 1.0 percent to 9,295.80. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent, Mineral Resources is tumbling more than 2 percent, Rio Tinto is down more than 1 percent and Fortescue is edging down 0.4 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy is gaining almost 3 percent and Beach energy is adding more than 2 percent, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.3 percent and Santos is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are gaining more than 1 percent each, while WiseTech Global and Zip are down more than 1 percent each. Appen is losing almost 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia bank are edging down 0.1 percent each, while ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are edging up 0.2 percent each. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining, Newmont and Northern Star Resources are tumbling almost 11 percent each, while Resolute Mining is plunging more than 8 percent and Genesis Minerals is sliding almost 12 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.649 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Tuesday after moving notably higher over the two previous sessions. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line, although the narrower Dow showed a more significant increase to reach a new record closing high.

The Dow pulled back well off its best levels of the day but still closed up 218.16 points or 0.5 percent to 46,924.74. The S&P 500 crept up 0.22 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,735.35, while the Nasdaq dipped 36.88 points or 0.2 percent to 22,953.67.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both closed up by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices advanced on Tuesday as easing U.S.-China trade friction overrode a stronger greenback and excess supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.38 or 0.66 percent at $57.90 per barrel.