Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly lower on Thursday, reversing some of the gains in the previous three sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,750 level, with weakness cross most sectors led by mining and energy stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 34.70 points or 0.40 percent to 8,721.70, after hitting a low of 8,701.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 37.30 points or 0.41 percent to 8,978.10. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are losing almost 2 percent each, while Rio Tinto is declining more than 2 percent on downbeat first-half results and Mineral Resources is tumbling more than 8 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Santos is edging up 0.5 percent. Origin Energy is flat. Beach energy is tumbling more than 10 percent after downbeat production update for the June quarter. It will also record a $674 million impairment in its 2025 financial year results, driven by lower commodity prices.

In the tech space, Zip is edging down 0.2 percent and Appen is losing almost 4 percent, while Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are adding more than 1 percent each. Xero is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is edging up 0.2 percent. ANZ Banking is flat.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is declining 2.5 percent, Evolution Mining is losing more than 3 percent, Resolute Mining is tumbling more than 4 percent and Newmont is slipping almost 2 percent. Gold Road Resources is flat.

In other news, shares in Cettire are plunging almost 18 percent after US President Donald Trump said the US would apply tariffs to low-value imports from all trading partners.

Beach Energy dived 9.9 per cent as it will record a $674m ($474m after tax) impairment in its 2025 financial year results, driven by lower commodity prices, but still expects Waitsia Gas Plant to come online by the end of the September quarter.

Flight Centre was dumped, down almost 9 per cent, as it said it would just miss the bottom end of guidance. The travel retailer had already revised that guidance lower in February, blaming growing Middle East tensions, difficult travel conditions in the United States and extra costs in Asia.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.644 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday following the modest pullback seen in the previous session. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing narrowly mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 31.38 points or 0.2 percent to 21,129.67, the S&P 500 edged down 7.96 points or 0.1 percent to 6,362.90 and the Dow fell 171.71 points or 0.4 percent to 44,461.28.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved modestly higher on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just above the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices inched higher on Wednesday on hopes the U.S. can avoid a trade war, while the grace period was cut for Russia to avoid sanctions on its energy trades from 50 to 10 days. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery rose $0.82 or 1.18 percent at $70.02 per barrel.