Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading slightly lower on Wednesday, extending the slight losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 8,500 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in mining and financial stocks partially offset by gains in energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 11.50 points or 0.14 percent to 8,529.80, after hitting a low of 8,521.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 10.10 points or 0.12 percent to 8,761.00. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, Fortescue metals are declining more than 2 percent, Rio Tinto is down almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is tumbling almost 5 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Santos are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Beach energy is adding more than 3 percent. Origin Energy is losing more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 2 percent, Zip is edging down 0.2 percent and Appen is declining 2.5 percent, while Xero is up almost 1 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia bank and Westpac are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while ANZ Banking is losing more than 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing almost 1 percent, Northern Star Resources is down almost 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.2 percent, while Resolute Mining is advancing almost 4 percent and Newmont is gaining more than 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.648 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved notably lower during trading on Tuesday, giving back ground following the rebound seen in the previous session.

The Nasdaq slid 180.12 points or 0.9 percent to 19,521.09, the S&P 500 decreased 50.39 points or 0.8 percent to 5,982.72 and the Dow fell 299.29 points or 0.7 percent to 42,215.80.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slumped 1.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index decreased by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices soared on Tuesday, with the conflict between Israel and Iran showing no sign of retreat. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery shot up by $3.07 to settle at $74.84 per barrel.