Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian stock market is trading modestly lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,300 level, with weakness across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 22.10 points or 0.27 percent to 8,229.80, after hitting a low of 8,210.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 27.40 points or 0.32 percent to 8,470.60. Australian stocks ended significantly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent, Fortescue Metals is slipping more than 4 percent, Rio Tinto is declining almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is edging down 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy is gaining almost 3 percent and Origin Energy is adding almost 1 percent, while Santos is edging down 0.5 percent and Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is slipping almost 3 percent, Xero is declining almost 1 percent and Zip is edging down 0.4 percent, while WiseTech Global is gaining more than 2 percent. Appen is tumbling almost 26 percent after downbeat full-year results.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.3 percent and ANZ Banking is gaining almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

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

In other news, shares in Flight Centre are tumbling almost 13 percent despite the travel booking service reporting a 7 percent growth in underlying profit as it set a record for productivity through automation.

Shares in Bapcor are jumping 16 percent after the car parts provider said costs and savings were expected to come in near the top end of a cost-cutting target range in 2024-25.

Shares in Worley are soaring almost 10 percent after the company announced a $500 million share buyback and reported a 72 percent jump in interim net profit.

Shares in PointsBet are skyrocketing almost 32 percent after the technology company received two takeover offers to buy the company.

Shares in Kelsian Group shed a fifth of its value, tumbling more than 19 percent after the company posted a 7.9 per cent fall in underlying profit.

In economic news, the value of total construction work done in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2024, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday - coming in at A$73.936 billion. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 1.0 percent and down from 1.6 percent in the three months prior. On a yearly basis, construction work was up 1.8 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.635 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks regained some ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after moving sharply lower early in the session, but remained firmly negative. With the continued weakness, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed lower for the fourth straight session.

The Nasdaq plunged 260.54 points or 1.4 percent to a three-month closing low of 19,026.39 and the S&P 500 slid 28.00 points or 0.5 percent to a one-month closing low of 5,955.25, although the narrower Dow bucked the downtrend and climbed 159.95 points or 0.4 percent to 43,621.16.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index crept up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices settled sharply lower on Tuesday as concerns about demand and oversupply in the market weighed and pushed the commodity's prices to the lowest level in about 11 weeks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April settled lower by $1.77 or at $68.93 a barrel.