Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading slightly higher on Wednesday, recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 8,200 level, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by mining and financial stocks nearly offset by weakness in technology stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 6.40 points or 0.08 percent to 8,157.80, after touching a high of 8,179.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 3.70 points or 0.04 percent to 8,373.00. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Mineral Resources is surging more than 4 percent and Fortescue Metals is adding almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Santos are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Beach energy and Origin Energy are adding almost 1 percent each.

In the tech space, Appen and WiseTech Global are losing more than 2 percent each, while Xero and Zip are declining almost 2 percent each. Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is edging up 0.3 percent and National Australia Bank is adding almost 4 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining, Resolute Mining and Northern Star Resources are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is adding more than 2 percent. Newmont is edging down 0.2 percent.

In other news, shares in Nuix are tumbling almost 24 percent after withdrawing full-year guidance for revenue growth and underlying cash flow as it said customers were holding off committing to new IT contracts.

Shares in Boss Energy are surging more than 7 percent after telling investors at the Macquarie Australia conference it was well-positioned to benefit from a rising triuranium octoxide price.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.650 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks saw continued weakness during trading on Tuesday after ending Monday's volatile session mostly lower. The major averages all moved to the downside on the day, pulling back further off last Friday's one-month closing highs.

The major averages finished the day firmly in negative territory. The Dow slumped 389.83 points or 1.0 percent to 40,829.00, the Nasdaq slid 154.58 points or 0.9 percent to 17,689.66 and the S&P 500 fell 43.37 points or 0.8 percent to 5,606.91.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index ended the day nearly unchanged, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices showed a substantial move back to the upside during trading on Tuesday. Crude for June delivery surged $1.92 or 3.2 percent to $62.15 a barrel after tumbling to its lowest closing levels in over four years during Monday's session.