Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,200 level, despite the positive cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by weakness in gold miners.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 8.00 points or 0.11 percent to 7,247.70, after hitting a low of 7,245.70 and a high of 7,266.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 5.50 points or 0.07 percent to 7,446.80. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Mineral Resources is gaining almost 4 percent. Fortescue Metals is flat. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos, Beach energy and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.4 percent. In the tech space, Xero and Zip are edging up 0.4 percent each, while WiseTech Global is gaining more than 1 percent and Appen is adding more than 2 percent. Afterpay owner Block is declining more than 3 percent

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.3 percent, while National Australia Bank is edging down 0.2 percent. ANZ Banking and Westpac are flat.

Among gold miners, Newcrest Mining and Evolution Mining are losing almost 1 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is down almost 2 percent and Resolute Mining is declining almost 4 percent. Northern Star Resources is flat.

In other news, shares in Allkem are soaring almost 15 percent after that lithium miner announced a $10 billion merger with US-listed company Livent.

Shares in GrainCorp are surging more than 6 percent after the agribusiness company lifted its earnings guidance despite posting lower half year profits.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.678 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stock fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Wednesday after failing to sustain an initial move to the upside. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq maintained a positive bias throughout the session, the S&P 500 spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The Nasdaq eventually showed a strong upward move on the day, jumping 126.89 points or 1.0 percent to 12,306.44. The S&P 500 also climbed 18.47 points or 0.5 percent to 4,137.64, while the narrower Dow bucked the uptrend and edged down 30.48 points or 0.1 percent to 33,531.33.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index declined by 0.4 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices showed a notable move to the downside on Wednesday, giving back ground after closing high for three straight sessions. West Texas Intermediate for June delivery slumped $1.15 or 1.6 percent to $72.56 a barrel after peaking at $73.71 in the previous session.