Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading slightly lower on Wednesday, snapping a five-session winning streak, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying well below the 8,300 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with a mixed performance across most sectors. Traders are also booking some profits following the recent upside in the markets.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 11.20 points or 0.14 percent to 8,257.80, after hitting a low of 8,255.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 5.70 points or 0.07 percent to 8,505.00. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Mineral Resources is gaining more than 1 percent and Fortescue metals is edging up 0.3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is adding almost 4 percent, Santos is advancing more than 2 percent and Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent, while Origin Energy is losing more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is surging more than 5 percent, WiseTech Global is gaining more than 1 percent, Zip is advancing more than 5 percent and Appen is edging up 0.5 percent, while Xero is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining almost 1 percent, while Westpac is edging down 0.4 percent. National Australia bankand ANZ Banking are flat.

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

In other news, shares in Aristocrat Leisure are tumbling more than 13 percent after the gaming technology company reported downbeat half-year results.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.647 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks turned in another strong performance during trading on Tuesday after moving sharply higher over the course of Monday's session. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in well over two months, with the S&P 500 turning positive for 2025.

The Nasdaq jumped 301.74 points or 1.6 percent to 19,010.08 and the S&P 500 climbed 42.36 points or 0.7 percent to 5,886.55. The narrower Dow, on the other hand, spent most of the day in negative territory before closing down 269.67 points or 0.6 percent at 42,140.43.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved modestly higher on the day. The German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both rose by 0.3 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices showed another significant move to the upside on Tuesday, reaching its highest closing level in almost a month on optimism about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery surged $1.72 or 2.8 percent to $63.67 a barrel.