Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling to stay above the 8,000 mark, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in mining and energy stocks amid tumbling commodity prices. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 41.20 points or 0.51 percent to 8,030.00, after hitting a low of 8,025.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 39.50 points or 0.48 percent to 8,257.60. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, Rio Tinto is down almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is declining almost 3 percent, while Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is edging down 0.3 percent, Santos is losing almost 1 percent and Woodside Energy is declining more than 1 percent, while Beach energy is edging up 0.4 percent. In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 1 percent and Zip is advancing almost 5 percent, while WiseTech Global and Appen are slipping almost 1 percent each. Xero is flat.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are edging down 0.4 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging up 0.5 percent. Westpac is flat.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Newmont are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Northern Star Resources and Gold Road Resources are edging up 0.3 percent each. Resolute Mining is adding more than 3 percent.

In other news, shares in Tabcorp are tumbling 11.5 percent after the company swung to a loss and wrote down the value of its NSW and South Australian wagering assets for the second time in a year. CEO Gillon McLachlan also dumped the company's ambitious 2025 strategy.

Shares in Kelsian are surging almost 7 percent following a 44.2 percent increase to its revenue, reflecting a full year since the company's acquisition of All Aboard America! Holdings. Profits also skyrocketed 176.2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.679 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Tuesday, with the major averages bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. Despite the choppy trading, the Dow crept up to a new record closing high.

The major averages all finished the day modestly higher. The Dow inched up 9.98 points or less than tenth of a percent to 41,250.50, the Nasdaq rose 29.05 points or 0.2 percent to 17,754.82 and the S&P 500 edged up 8.96 points or 0.2 percent to 5,625.80.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended mixed on the day after seeing early strength. While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday after three successive days of strong gains, consolidating ahead of supply data due out later today. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for October slumped $1.89 or 2.5 percent at $75.53 a barrel.