Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is notably lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous four sessions, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 7,600 level, with weakness across most sectors led by energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 38.20 points or 0.52 percent to 7,354.90, after hitting a low of 7,322.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 38.80 points or 0.51 percent to 7,583.70. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent and Mineral Resources is declining almost 2 percent, while Rio Tinto is edging up 0.4 percent and Fortescue Metals is gaining almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Santos is declining almost 2 percent. Origin Energy is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are declining more than 1 percent each, while Appen is slipping almost 4 percent and WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent. Zip is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while National Australia Bank is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is edging up 0.5 percent, while Gold Road Resources, Newmont and Northern Star Resources are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each. Resolute Mining is flat.

In economic news, the Australian economy lost 65,100 jobs in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was way off from forecasts for an increase of 17,600 jobs following the addition of 61,500 jobs in November.

Specifically, full-time jobs were down 106,600 after gaining 57,000 in the previous month. The jobless rate managed to hold steady at 3.9 percent, while the participation rate fell to 66.8 percent from 67.2 percent a month earlier.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.656 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks remained mostly lower throughout the trading day on Wednesday after coming under pressure early in the session. The major averages added to the losses posted during Tuesday's session, with the Dow falling to its lowest closing level in almost a month.

The major averages regained ground going into the close of trading but remained in negative territory. The Dow dipped 94.45 points or 0.3 percent to 37,266.67, the Nasdaq slid 88.73 points or 0.6 percent to 14,855.62 and the S&P 500 fell 26.77 points or 0.6 percent to 4,739.21.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped 1.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slid by 1.1 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Wednesday, although concerns about the outlook for oil demand and a firm dollar limited the uptick in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for February rose $0.16 at $72.56 a barrel.