Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly lower in post-holiday trading on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 7,100 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by weakness in technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 33.20 points or 0.47 percent to 7,074.50, after hitting a low of 7,072.90 and a high of 7,124.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 39.10 points or 0.54 percent to 7,248.70. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Friday ahead of the long Christmas weekend.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Rio Tinto is advancing more than 1 percent. Mineral Resources is losing 2.5 percent and OZ Minerals is edging down 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are higher. Santos, Beach energy and Woodside Energy are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Origin Energy is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are losing more than 2 percent each, while Xero is down more than 1 percent, Appen is edging down 0.4 percent and Zip is declining almost 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is losing almost 1 percent, Commonwealth Bank is down more than 1 percdent and Westpac is edging down 0.1 percent, while ANZ Banking is flat.

Among gold miners, Newcrest Mining is gaining almost 1 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are adding more than 1 percent each. Resolute Mining and Gold Road Resources are flat.

In other news, shares in PointsBet Holdings are surging almost 5 percent after the company confirmed it was considering selling its Australian business to News-Corp-backed wagering startup Betr. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.673 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday with trading resuming following the long Christmas weekend. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a particularly steep drop, tumbling to its lowest closing level in well over a month.

The Nasdaq plunged 144.64 points or 1.4 percent to 10,353.23 and the S&P 500 fell 15.57 points or 0.4 percent to 3,829.25. Meanwhile, the narrower Dow inched up 37.63 points or 0.1 percent to 33,241.56.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K. markets remained closed, the German DAX Index rose 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices pared gains and settled roughly flat on Tuesday after refineries in the Gulf Coast restarted after a temporary closure. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled flat at $79.53 a barrel.