Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling to near the 8,600 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in technology and financial stocks partially offset by gains in mining and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 62.40 points or 0.72 percent to 8,608.30, after hitting a low of 8,590.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 58.70 points or 0.66 percent to 8,850.90. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is advancing more than 2 percent and Fortescue is gaining almost 1 percent, while Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are adding almost 2 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy and Santos are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent, Zip is tumbling almost 7 percent and WiseTech Global is declining more than 3 percent, while Xero is edging up 0.1 percent. Appen are flat.

Among the big four banks, National Australia bank is slipping more than 2 percent, ANZ Banking is losing almost 2 percent and Westpac is declining almost 3 percent. Commonwealth Bank is tumbling more than 8 percent after higher bad debt provisions weighed on earnings. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is gaining more than 2 percent, Resolute Mining is up almost 1 percent, Northern Star Resources is advancing almost 2 percent, Newmont is edging up 0.4 percent and Genesis Minerals is adding almost 3 percent.

In other news, shares in Healius are plummeting almost 20 percent after lowering its full-year earnings guidance and launching a strategic review of Agilex Biolabs. Shares in Perenti are jumping almost 8 percent after the company announced that its underground mining subsidiary Barminco had won an $850 million contract with Bellevue Gold. The contract would run for four years with the option to extend for another year. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.723 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks regained ground over the course of the session after moving sharply lower in morning trading on Tuesday. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day, with the Dow reaching positive territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day down 185.92 points or 0.7 percent at 26,088.20 and the S&P 500 also slipped 11.88 points or 0.2 percent to 7,400.96, while the narrower Dow inched up 56.09 points or 0.1 percent to 49,760.56. Meanwhile, the major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1 percent and the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.6 percent.

An extended surge by the price of crude oil contributed to the early sell-off on Wall Street, with U.S. crude oil futures soaring by more than 4 percent and jumping back above $100 a barrel.