Australian Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is sharply lower on Thursday, giving up the gains in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 6,900 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with losses across all sectors, led by technology stocks, on concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the US Fed's rate decision.

The Fed announced its widely expected decision to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points in an effort to rein in the worst inflation in four decades.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 137.10 points or 1.96 percent to 6,849.60, after hitting a low of 6,823.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 137.20 or 1.91 percent to 7,040.60. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing almost 3 percent each, while Fortescue Metals and Mineral Resources are declining more than 3 percent each. OZ Minerals is slipping almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is losing almost 4 percent, Woodside Energy is declining more than 3 percent, Origin Energy is slipping almost 3 percent and Santos is down more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is sliding almost 6 percent, Xero is losing 2.5 percent and WiseTech Global is down more than 1 percent, while Appen and Zip are slipping more than 2 percent each.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are losing almost 2 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is slipping more than 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is losing almost 4 percent and Newcrest Mining is declining more than 3 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Evolution Mining are slipping more than 5 percent each. Resolute Mining is gaining almost 3 percent.

In other news, shares in A2 Milk are soaring almost 8 percent after the infant milk formula maker secured a temporary approval to export its milk formula to the US following a shortage in the country.

Shares in Perpetual are surging more than 7 percent after it rejected a $1.68 billion takeover bid from a consortium of buyers and backed the $2.51 billion offer from rival Pendal Group.

In economic news, the services sector in Australia slipped into contraction territory in October, the latest survey from S&P Global showed on Thursday with a services PMI score of 49.3. That's down from 50.6 in September, and it falls beneath the boob-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that Australia's composite index fell to 49.8 in October from 50.9 in September.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.634 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw substantial volatility late in the trading session on Wednesday, as traders reacted to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement and subsequent comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

The major averages initially reacted positively to the Fed's statement but pulled back sharply going into the close of trading. The Dow slumped 505.44 points or 1.6 percent to 32,147.76, the Nasdaq plunged 366.05 points or 3.4 percent to 10,524.80 and the S&P 500 tumbled 96.41 points or 2.5 percent to 3,759.69.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.8 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both fell by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday after data showed declines in crude and gasoline stockpiles in the U.S. last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December climbed $1.63 or 1.8 percent at $90.00 a barrel.