Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is notably lower on Thursday, snapping a five-session winning streak, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 7,800 level, with losses in financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy stocks amid higher crude oil prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 48.00 points or 0.62 percent to 7,756.50, after hitting a low of 7,804.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 47.70 points or 0.59 percent to 8,029.00. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources is losing almost 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.3 percent. BHP Group and Rio Tinto are flat.

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

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are losing almost 1 percent each, while Appen is declining almost 2 percent. Zip is gaining almost 1 percent. WiseTech Global is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is losing more than 1 percent, ANZ Banking is edging down 0.3 percent, National Australia Bank is down almost 1 percent and Westpac is declining more than 2 percent.

Among gold miners, Gold Road Resources is losing almost 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.3 percent, while Resolute Mining is adding more than 1 percent and Newmont is edging up 0.1 percent. Evolution Mining is flat.

In other news, shares in Baby Bunting are plunging 20 percent after the nursery retailer downgraded its profit guidance and warned consumers are being hit by rising living costs.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.657 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, extending the lackluster performance seen during Tuesday's session. Despite the choppy trading, the Dow closed higher for the sixth straight day, reaching its best closing level in over a month.

The major averages eventually finished the day mixed. While the Dow climbed 172.13 points or 0.4 percent to 39,056.39, the S&P 500 edged down 0.03 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,187.67 and the Nasdaq dipped 29.80 points or 0.2 percent to 16,302.76.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.7 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index rose by 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Wednesday after data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories rose last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.61 or 0.78 percent at $78.99 per barrel.