Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading slightly lower on Wednesday, snapping a four-session winning streak, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 retreating after closing at all-time highs in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with slight weakness in mining and energy stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 6.30 points or 0.08 percent to 8,134.60, after hitting a low of 8,114.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 4.00 points or 0.05 percent to 8,357.20. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Mineral Resources are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Rio Tinto is gaining almost 1 percent. Fortescue Metals is declining more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is gaining more than 2 percent and Beach energy is adding almost 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Santos are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 2 percent and Appen is adding more than 1 percent, while WiseTech Global, Xero and Zip are edging down 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while National Australia Bank is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.4 percent and Gold Road Resources is declining almost 2 percent, while Newmont is gaining almost 1 percent and Evolution Mining is adding more than 1 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.677 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks gave back ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after moving mostly higher early in the session. The Dow and the S&P 500 reached new record intraday highs in early trading but subsequently pulled back near the unchanged line.

The major averages ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Dow edged down 15.90 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 41,606.18, the S&P 500 inched up 1.49 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,634.58 and the Nasdaq rose 35.93 points or 0.2 percent to 17,628.06.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved higher on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent, the German Index and the French CAC 40 Index both climbed by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday as concerns about tight supply in the market offset continued uncertainty about the outlook for demand from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.10 or 1.5 percent at $71.19 a barrel.