Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading slightly lower on Thursday, snapping a six-session winning streak, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying well below the 8,300 level, with weakness across most sectors led by gold miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 6.70 points or 0.08 percent to 8,272.90, after hitting a low of 8,257.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 10.40 points or 0.12 percent to 8,509.80. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is gaining almost 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy, Origin Energy and Woodside Energy is edging down 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Santos is losing more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Appen is sliding almost 8 percent, while WiseTech Global and Zip are edging down 0.4 to 0.5 percent each. Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.2 percent and Xero is adding almost 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Westpac and ANZ Banking are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is slipping almost 2 percent, Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.5 percent, Newmont is declining more than 3 percent, Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent and Resolute Mining is sliding more than 4 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.643 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the session after moving to the upside at the start of trading on Wednesday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finishing mixed.

The Dow slumped 89.37 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 42,051.06, while the NASDAQ rallied 136.72 points or 0.72 percent to close at 19,146.81 and the S&P 500 rose 6.03 points or 0.10 percent to end at 5,892.58.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell 0.21 percent, while Germany's DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both slipped 0.47 percent.

Crude oil prices slipped again on Wednesday, after data showed that U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly jumped last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery shed 0.80 or 1.27 percent to 62.87 per barrel.