Australian Market Slightly Weak

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly weak in choppy trading on Thursday, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 6,800 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in materials and energy stocks nearly offset by the strong gains in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 8.40 points or 0.12 percent to 6,750.80, after hitting a low of 6,743.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 0.2 points or 0.00 percent to 6,975.40. Australian stocks ended sharply higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, Rio Tinto declining almost 2 percent and Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.2 percent, while OZ Minerals and Mineral Resources are down almost 1 percent each.

Rio Tinto has reached a $1 billion settlement with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to resolve and finalize all tax disputes, including long-standing issues related to its Singapore marketing hub.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos and Origin Energy are edging down 0.2 percent each, while Woodside Energy is losing more than 2 percent. Beach energy is gaining almost 3 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is surging almost 8 percent, Xero is adding more than 3 percent, Appen is up almost 1 percent, Zip is gaining more than 2 percent and WiseTech Global is advancing almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are edging up 0.2 percent each, while Westpac is gaining almost 1 percent. ANZ Banking is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources, Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Newcrest Mining is adding almost 2 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

In other news, shares in Link Administration are surging almost 11 percent after saying it will recommend Canadian software firm Dye & Durham Ltd's $2.5 billion revised offer.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.688 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Wednesday but maintained a positive bias throughout the session before closing mostly higher. The major averages extended the rally seen in the previous session, reaching their best closing levels in over a month.

The major averages all finished the day in positive territory, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed its counterparts by a wide margin. While the Nasdaq surged 184.50 points or 1.6 percent to 11,897.65, the S&P 500 climbed 23.21 points or 0.6 percent to 3,959.90 and the narrower Dow edged up by 47.79 points or 0.2 percent to 31,874.84.

Meanwhile, European stocks fluctuated over the course of the session before closing modestly lower. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index edged down by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower Wednesday amid concerns about the outlook for gasoline demand during the summer driving season. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $1.96 or 1.9 percent at $102.26 a barrel on the expiration day.