Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is significantly lower on Wednesday, giving up the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,400 levels, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by tumbling financial stocks as traders reacted higher-than-expected US inflation reading, which supports a case for further interest rate hikes.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 75.60 points or 1.02 percent to 7,355.30, after hitting a low of 7,352.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 67.40 points or 0.88 percent to 7,561.20. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is edging down 0.2 percent, while Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are gaining almost 1 percent each. OZ Minerals is flat. Fortescue Metals is declining more than 2 percent after posting a 15 percent drop in its half-yearly profit amid low iron ore prices and higher operating costs.

Oil stocks are weak. Woodside Energy is losing almost 2 percent and Beach energy is down almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy and Santos are flat.

In the tech space, Xero is adding more than 1 percent, while Afterpay owner Block, Zip and WiseTech Global are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each. Appen is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac is losing more than 4 percent, National Australia Bank is declining 3.5 percent and ANZ Banking is down more than 3 percent. Commonwealth Bank is slipping 4.5 percent, despite posting record half-yearly profit of $5.15 billion and announcing 20 percent higher dividend.

Among gold miners, Newcrest Mining is losing 1.5 percent, Northern Star Resources is down almost 1 percent and Evolution Mining is declining more than 2 percent. Resolute Mining and Gold Road Resources are flat.

In other news, shares in Cochlear are surging more than 6 percent after the hearing device maker posted a 9 percent growth in half-year revenue. Net profit was down 16 percent, hurt by higher operating costs.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.698 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks were on a volatile ride Tuesday that saw them finish on opposite sides of the unchanged line after showing considerable strength in the previous session.

The Dow slumped 162.12 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 34,083 and the S&P 500 dipped 0.96 points or 0.02 percent to end at 4,136.33, while the NASDAQ advanced 70.99 points or 0.60 percent to close at 11,962.78

The major European markets also were mixed on the day. The French CAC 40 Index perked 0.07 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.08 percent and the German DAX Index slipped by 0.11 percent.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday afternoon, dropping after the release of the U.S. inflation data before coming up off daily lows. West Texas Intermediate was down $1.01 or 1.26 percent to $79.13 per barrel, coming off a low of $77.46 earlier in the day.