Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading notably lower on Thursday, extending the slight losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,900 level, with weakness in iron ore miners, financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in gold mining and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 60.20 points or 0.67 percent to 8,873.70, after hitting a low of 8,872.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 67.40 points or 0.73 percent to 9,183.20. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is declining almost 2 percent, Fortescue is down more than 1 percent, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is edging down 0.4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is gaining more than 1 percent, Origin Energy is edging up 0.4 percent and Woodside Energy is adding almost 1 percent, while Beach energy is edging down 0.4 percent

In the tech space, WiseTech Global and Xero are slipping almost 2 percent each, while Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent and Zip is declining almost 4 percent. Appen is skyrocketing more than 32 percent after reporting upbeat revenues for the fourth quarter, driven by growth in its China and global businesses.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is edging down 0.3 percent, while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are losing more than 1 percent. National Australia Bank is edging up 0.3 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is gaining 1.5 percent, Northern Star Resources is advancing almost 3 percent, Genesis Minerals is up almost 1 percent and Newmont is adding more than 2 percent. Resolute Mining is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.705 on Thursday.

In other news, shares in Iluka Resources are tumbling more than 15 percent after it flagged a $565 million pre-tax hit in its financial years for the year to December 31, following Iluka's September decision to suspend production at the Cataby mine and the SR2 synthetic rutile kiln in WA from December 1, citing subdued demand for mineral sands and pigment.

On Wall Street, stock indexes quickly gave back ground and spent much of the rest of Wednesday's session lingering near the unchanged line after failing to sustain an early move to the upside. The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed.

While the S&P 500 edged down 0.57 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,978.03, the Dow crept up 12.19 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 49,015.60 and the Nasdaq rose 40.35 points or 0.2 percent to 23,857.45.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.5 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices soared on Wednesday as Iran rejected any nuclear talks under threat even as a massive U.S. armada nears the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $0.85 or 1.36 percent at $63.24 per barrel.