Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly lower on Thursday, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,500 levels, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by weakness in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 12.90 points or 0.17 percent to 7,517.20, after hitting a low of 7,494.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 16.80 points or 0.22 percent to 7,723.70. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and OZ Minerals are edging down 0.4 percent each, while Mineral Resources is losing more than 1 percent. Fortescue Metals is gaining more than 1 percent and BHP Group is flat.

Oil stocks are mixed. Beach energy is edging up 0.1 percent, Origin Energy is losing more than 2 percent, and Woodside Energy is edging up 0.4 percent. Santos is flat.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are losing almost 3 percent each, while Zip is sliding 5.5 percent, Appen is down more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is declining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while ANZ Banking is adding almost 1 percent. Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is losing almost 2 percent, Newcrest Mining is edging down 0.2 percent and Evolution Mining is slipping almost 1 percent, while Resolute Mining is gaining almost 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.1 percent.

In other news, shares in AGL Energy are tumbling almost 10 percent after the power retailer posting a loss of more than $1.1 billion for the first half. It also slashed the top range of its full-year earnings forecasts.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.693 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower during trading on Wednesday, giving back ground following the rally seen in the previous session. The major averages all moved to the downside on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the pullback.

The major averages finished the session near their worst levels of the day. The Nasdaq tumbled 203.27 points or 1.7 percent to 11,910.52, the S&P 500 slumped 46.14 points or 1.1 percent to 4,117.86 and the Dow slid 207.68 points or 0.6 percent to 33,939.01.

Meanwhile, the major European markets finished the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index climbed 0.6 percent. Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday, extending gains to a third straight session amid hopes of higher demand from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $1.33 or 1.7 percent at $78.47 a barrel.