Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly lower on Thursday, giving up some of the gains in the previous three sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling to stay a tad above the 8,400 level, with weakness in mining and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 24.90 points or 0.30 percent to 8,404.90, after hitting a low of 8,388.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 25.90 points or 0.30 percent to 8,654.60. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is down more than 1 percent, Mineral Resources is slipping 2.5 percent and Fortescue Metals is declining almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is edging up 0.1 percent, Beach energy is adding more than 1 percent and Santos is gaining almost 1 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

In the tech space, WiseTech Global is edging up 0.5 percent, while Zip and Xero are gaining almost 2 percent each. Appen is losing almost 4 percent. Afterpay owner Block is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while National Australia Bank is flat. Among gold miners, Gold Road Resources and Newmont are losing almost 2 percent each, while Evolution Mining is declining almost 4 percent and Northern Star Resources is down almost 1 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.627 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks closed on a firm note on Wednesday as investors reacted positively to some upbeat earnings updates and corporate news, and on continued optimism about a few interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year. Worries about tariff threats lingered but investors largely shrugged off concerns and kept picking up stocks.

The major averages all closed on a strong note. The Dow closed up 130.92 points or 0.3 percent, at 44,156.73. The S&P 500 gained 37.13 points or 0.61 percent, settling at 6,086.37, while the Nasdaq climbed 252.56 points or 1.28 percent, to 20,009.34.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged by 1.01 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down 0.04 percent and the French CAC 40 Index gained 0.86 percent.

Crude oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday, extending recent weakness on concerns about excess supply in the market due to the Trump administration's plan to maximize oil and gas production. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March fell $0.39 or 0.5 percent at $75.44 a barrel, extending losses to a fifth straight session.