Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is slightly lower on Thursday in choppy trading, adding to the slight losses in the previous session, as the market searches for direction, following the mixed cues from other global markets overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying well above the 7,700 level, with losses in some mining and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 2.90 points or 0.04 percent to 7,766.80, after hitting a low of 7,759.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 1.70 points or 0.20 percent to 8,008.80. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 1 percent, Fortescue Metals is adding more than 1 percent and BHP Group is edging up 0.2 percent, while Mineral Resources is edging down 0.3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy, Beach energy and Santos are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Xero and WiseTech Global are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Zip is losing more than 1 percent. Appen is adding more than 1 percent and Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing almost 3 percent, while Newmont and Northern Star Resources edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each. Resolute Mining is gaining more than 3 percent and Gold Road Resources is adding almost 1 percent.

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

On Wall Street, the markets were closed for Juneteenth National Independence Day on Wednesday after closing modestly higher on Tuesday.

The major European markets were mixed on the day. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 0.35 percent and 0.77 percent, respectively. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.17 percent.