Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading significantly lower on Thursday, reversing the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,650 level, with weakness across most sectors led by gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 74.00 points or 0.85 percent to 8,643.70, after hitting a low of 8,638.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 74.90 points or 0.84 percent to 8,870.30. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Wednesday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is down more than 1 percent and Santos is edging down 0.3 percent, while Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are losing almost 1 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 2 percent, while WiseTech Global is losing almost 2 percent, Zip is slipping almost 1 percent, Xero is down more than 1 percent and Appen is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ Banking are all losing more than 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are declining more than 3 percent each, while Newmont is tumbling more than 5 percent, Genesis Minerals is slipping more than 4 percent and Resolute Mining is sliding more than 6 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.713 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Wednesday but managed to end the day modestly higher. The Dow led the way higher, reaching a new record closing high along with the Nasdaq and S&P 500.

The major averages all ended the day in positive territory. The Dow climbed 182.60 points or 0.4 percent to 60,644.28, the Nasdaq inched up 18.55 points or 0.1 percent to 26,674.73 and the S&P 500 crept up 1.24 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 7,520.36.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index closed just below the unchanged line, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Wednesday as investors continue to anticipate a potential U.S.-Iran agreement, despite the hard line from the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $5.05 or 5.38 percent at $88.84 per barrel.