Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading modestly lower on Wednesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 8,300 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in iron ore miners, energy and technology stocks were nearly offset by gains in gold miners and financial stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 24.30 points or 0.29 percent to 8,294.10, after hitting a low of 8,274.30 and a high of 8,024.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 28.30 points or 0.33 percent to 8,570.30. Australian stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy and Beach energy are losing more than 1 percent each, while Santos are declining more than 2 percent. Woodside Energy is gaining almost 1 percent. In the tech space, WiseTech Global is slipping almost 2 percent and Appen is losing almost 5 percent, while Zip and Xero are declining more than 1 percent each. Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac are gaining almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources and Gold Road Resources are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Evolution Mining is advancing more than almost 5 percent, Newmont is up more than 3 percent and Resolute Mining are adding 1.5 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.668 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks came under considerable selling pressure over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after moving to the upside early in the session. The major averages all moved notably lower following the strong gains posted during Monday's session.

The major averages fell to new lows late in the trading day before regaining some ground going into the close. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 187.10 points or 1.0 percent to 18,315.59, the Dow slid 324.80 points or 0.8 percent to 42,740.42 and the S&P 500 fell 44.59 points or 0.8 percent to 5,815.26.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent and the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Tuesday as fears about supply disruptions faded on reports that Israel will avoid targeting Iran's oil sites. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for November sank $3.25 or 4.4 percent at $70.58 a barrel.