Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is sharply lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling to around the 6,700 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness across most sectors, led by mining and technology stocks as traders digest another rate hike by the US Fed and the hawkish comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

The Fed raised interest rates by another three-quarters of a percentage point and signaled further aggressive rate hikes for the remainder of the year.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 106.20 points or 1.56 percent to 6,700.20, after hitting a low of 6,695.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 108.60 points or 1.55 percent to 6,921.40. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources is losing more than 2 percent, OZ Minerals is down almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is declining almost 4 percent, Fortescue Metals is sliding more than 4 percent and BHP Group is slipping more than 3 percent.

Oil stocks are lower. Santos is losing more than 1 percent, Beach energy is down almost 1 percent and Woodside Energy is declining almost 2 percent, while Origin Energy is slipping almost 3 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 3 percent, Xero is declining almost 3 percent, Zip is sliding almost 6 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining almost 2 percent, while Appen and WiseTech Global are down almost 2 percent each.

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

Among gold miners, Resolute Mining and Evolution Mining are losing more than 4 percent each, while Newcrest Mining and Northern Star Resources are declining more than 2 percent each. Gold Road Resources is down almost 2 percent. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.659 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks typically saw wild swings following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcements but saw particularly significant volatility on the heels of the central bank's latest decision on Wednesday.

The major averages swung back and forth across the unchanged line before finishing the day just off their lows of the session. The Dow slumped 522.45 points or 1.7 percent to 30,183.78, the Nasdaq plunged 204.86 points or 1.8 percent to 11,220.19 and the S&P 500 tumbled 66.00 points or 1.7 percent to 3,789.93.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index climbed by 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices drifted lower Wednesday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand after the Federal Reserve's announcement of a sharp hike in interest rates raised fears about a recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $1.00 or 1.2 percent at $82.94 a barrel.