Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading notably lower on Thursday, extending the sharp losses in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,800 level, with weakness in gold miners, financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in iron ore miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 44.80 points or 0.51 percent to 8,798.80, after hitting a low of 8,794.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 44.70 points or 0.49 percent to 9,029.70. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is adding more than 1 percent, Santos is advancing more than 2 percent and Origin Energy is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Appen are edging down 0.3 percent each, while WiseTech Global is losing more than 2 percent and Xero is down more than 1 percent. Zip is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are all losing almost 2 percent each.

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

In other news, shares in Temple & Webster group are tumbling almost 7 percent after the online furniture retailer announced a change of leadership, with Co-founder and CEO Mark Coulter transitioning to the role of executive chair on 1 July. Coulter will be replaced by Susie Sugden.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia bounced back up into expansion territory, the latest survey from S&P Global showed on Thursday with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.0. That's up from 49.8 in March and it moves above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI improved to 50.3 from 46.3 in March and the composite PMI climbed to 50.1 from 46.6.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.716 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Wednesday, more than offsetting the pullback seen over the two previous sessions. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 saw further upside going into the close, ending the day just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq surged 397.60 points or 1.6 percent to 24,657.57 and the S&P 500 jumped 73.89 points or 1.1 percent to 7,137.90. The narrower Dow gave back ground after an early advance but still ended the day firmly positive, closing up 340.65 points or 0.7 percent at 49,490.03.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 1 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices soared Wednesday thanks to supply disruption concerns due to the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was up $3.54 or 3.95 percent at $93.21 per barrel.