Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading modestly lower on Wednesday, reversing the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 8,850 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in mining, financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 29.20 points or 0.33 percent to 8,848.50, after hitting a low of 8,841.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 29.10 points or 0.32 percent to 9,122.10. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are losing more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue is declining more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are higher. Woodside Energy is gaining almost 1 percent, Origin Energy is advancing more than 2 percent and Beach energy is edging up 0.1 percent, while Santos is edging down 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Zip is losing more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is edging down 0.1 percent and Appen is declining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are edging up 0.1 percent each, while National Australia bank is losing almost 1 percent and Westpac is edging down 0.5 percent. is flat.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining, Resolute Mining and Newmont are losing almost 1 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.3 percent. Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.1 percent.

In other news, shares in PYC Therapeutics are tumbling almost 28 percent after the clinical-stage biotechnology company announced the sudden resignation of CEO and Executive Director Dr. Rohan Hockings.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.668 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after ending the previous session mostly higher. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record intraday highs in early trading but spent the rest of the day lingering near the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day modestly lower. The Dow dipped 125.55 points or 0.3 percent to 45,757.90, the Nasdaq slipped 14.79 points or 0.1 percent to 22,333.96 and the S&P 500 edged down 8.52 points or 0.1 percent to 6,606.76.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index is tumbled 1.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.0 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.9 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Tuesday amid the intensifying Russia-Ukraine war and ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later today. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.22 or 1.93 percent at $64.52 per barrel.