Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading sharply lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 8,000 mark, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness across most sectors led by mining and energy stocks amid tumbling commodity prices. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 145.40 points or 1.79 percent to 7,957.80, after hitting a low of 7,951.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 155.20 points or 1.87 percent to 8,167.50. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, Rio Tinto is down almost 2 percent and Fortescue Metals is declining almost 4 percent. Mineral Resources is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is edging down 0.2 percent, Santos is losing more than 2 percent, Woodside Energy is declining almost 2 percent and Beach energy is down almost 3 percent. In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Zip are losing more than 2 percent each, while WiseTech Global is down almost 2 percent and Xero is declining more than 1 percent. Appen is surging almost 6 percent.

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

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources and Newmont are down more than 1 percent each, while Evolution Mining is losing almost 2 percent, Gold Road Resources is declining more than 4 percent and Resolute Mining is slipping more than 3 percent.

In economic news, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in August, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Judo Bank revealed on Wednesday with a services PMI score of 52.5. That's up from 50.4 in July and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.670 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, with the major averages more than offsetting the strong gains posted last Friday. With the steep drop, the Dow pulled back well off the record closing high set in the previous session.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but continued to post significant losses. The Nasdaq plunged 577.33 points or 3.3 percent to 17,136.30, the S&P 500 dove 119.47 points or 2.1 percent to 5,528.93 and the Dow tumbled 626.15 points or 1.5 percent to 40,936.93.

The major European markets also showed more significant moves to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slumped 1.0 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply to a nine-month low on Tuesday on prospects of oversupply from OPEC weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down by $3.21 or 4.4 percent at $70.34 a barrel.