Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly lower on Wednesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying just below the 7,300 level, following the lack of cues from Wall Street overnight, with losses in gold miners and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 12.40 points or 0.17 percent to 7,266.60, after hitting a low of 7,259.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 12.80 points or 0.17 percent to 7,466.10. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while BHP Group is edging down 0.2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy and Santos are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each. Beach energy is edging up 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while WiseTech Global is losing more than 1 percent. Appen is advancing almost 1 percent and Zip is adding more than 1 percent. Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are losing almost 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.5 percent each.

Among gold miners, Gold Road Resources is losing more than 1 percent, Newcrest Mining is edging down 0.5 percent and Resolute Mining is down almost 1 percent, while Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.1 percent and Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent.

In economic news, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in June, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Judo Bank revealed on Wednesday with a services PMI score of 50.3. That's down from 52.1 in May, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the composite index slipped to 50.1 in June from 51.6 in May.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.669 on Wednesday.

The Wall Street was closed on account of Independence Day holiday on Tuesday. The shares closed slightly higher on Monday.

The major European markets moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.1 percent down, Germany's DAX drifted down 0.26 percent and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 0.23 percent.