Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is notably lower on Thursday, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 7,700 level, with weakness across most sectors led by miners and energy stocks amid tumbling metal prices. Some technology stocks gained.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 42.50 points or 0.55 percent to 7,657.30, after hitting a low of 7,646.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 44.20 points or 0.56 percent to 7,868.90. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are losing almost 2 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is down almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is declining more than 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is losing more than 1 percent, Beach energy is declining almost 1 percent and Santos is edging down 0.4 percent, while Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent, WiseTech Global is adding more than 1 percent and Appen is advancing more than 3 percent, while Xero is edging down 0.5 percent and Zip is down almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.1 percent each, while ANZ Banking Is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is declining almost 5 percent, Gold Road Resources is losing almost 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is slipping almost 3 percent, Newmont is sliding almost 4 percent and Resolute Mining is plunging almost 7 percent.

In other news, shares in AMP Ltd. are surging more than 10 percent after the financial services giant reported a higher net profit in the half-year. It also declared an interim partially franked dividend.

Shares in Myer dropped more than 7 percent following a trading update that it expected a lower net profit, due to challenging trading conditions, the impact of store closures and inflationary cost pressures.

Shares in Mirvac plunged almost 12 percent after the property developer, investor and fund manager forecast lower earnings and distributions in the 2025 financial year as higher costs eat into margins on its apartment projects.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.653 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks gave back ground over the course of the trading day on Wednesday after extending yesterday's rebound early in the session. The major averages pulled back well off their early highs and into negative territory.

The major averages ended the day just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq slumped 171.05 points or 1.1 percent to 16,195.81, the S&P 500 slid 40.53 points or 0.8 percent to 5,199.50 and the Dow fell 234.21 points or 0.6 percent to 38,763.45.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also showed strong moves to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index soared 1.9 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index spiked by 1.8 percent and the German DAX Index shot up by 1.5 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday as data showed a much larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $2.03 or 2.75 percent at $75.23 a barrel.