Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably lower on Wednesday, snapping an eight-session winning streak, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling well below the 8,000 mark, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with weakness across most sectors led by energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 37.70 points or 0.47 percent to 7,960.00, after hitting a low of 7,951.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 30.30 points or 0.37 percent to 8,177.30. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent, Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.1 percent, Rio Tinto is declining more than 1 percent and Mineral Resources is slipping almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are weak. Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is down 1.5 percent, Beach energy is slipping more than 1 percent and Santos is declining more than 3 percent after reporting a big drop in first-half underlying profit as LNG prices softened.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 3 percent and Zip is declining almost 4 percent, while Appen and Xero are slipping almost 1 percent each. WiseTech Global is skyrocketing more than 14 percent after lifting its dividend and forecasting faster earnings growth for the fiscal year.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is losing more than 2 percent, while National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 1 percent, Newmont is edging down 0.5 percent and Resolute Mining is adding 1.5 percent.

In other news, shares in Brambles are gaining more than 7 percent after reporting better-than-expected earnings.

Shares in Charter Hall soared more than 13 percent after the property fund manager approved a 6 percent lift in distributions over the coming year.

Shares in Breville are surging more than 7 per cent after reporting higher profit.

Struggling pathology company Healius soared almost 9 percent despite its losses deepening and withholding issuance of a dividend.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.675 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually ending the day modestly lower.

The major averages finished the session well off their worst levels of the day but still in the red after trending higher over the past several sessions. The Dow dipped 61.56 points or 0.2 percent to 40,834.97, the Nasdaq fell 59.83 points or 0.3 percent to 17,816.94 and the S&P 500 slipped 11.13 points or 0.2 percent to 5,597.12.

The major European markets have all also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped 1.0 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices settled lower on Tuesday, losing for a third straight session, although the downside was far less pronounced compared to the previous two sessions. Concerns about the outlook for demand from China, and easing geopolitical tensions weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $0.33 or about 0.44 percent at $74.04 a barrel.