Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are losing for the second straight session on Wednesday, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 6,900 level to fresh six-month lows, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with weakness across most sectors led by technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 49.20 points or 0.71 percent to 6,894.20, after hitting a low of 6,892.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 54.40 points or 0.76 percent to 7,086.60. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Mineral Resources and BHP Group are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is losing more than 1 percent and Santos is down almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.4 percent. Woodside Energy is flat. In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing 2.5 percent, WiseTech Global is down more than 1 percent, Xero is slipping 1.5 percent and Appen is declining more than 4 percent, while Zip is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are losing more than 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are down almost 1 percent each. Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources and Gold Road Resources are advancing almost 2 percent each, while Evolution Mining and Resolute Mining are gaining almost 1 percent each. Newcrest Mining is edging up 0.4 percent.

In economic news, the services sector in Australia moved back up into expansion territory, the latest survey from Judo Bank revealed on Wednesday with a services PMI score of 51.8. That's up from 47.8 in August and it moves back above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction for the first time in three months.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.630 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday with traders continuing to express concerns about the outlook for interest rates. The major averages all showed substantial moves to the downside after ending Monday's trading mixed.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but still posted steep losses. The Dow slumped 430.97 points or 1.3 percent to 33,002.38, the Nasdaq plunged 248.31 points or 1.9 percent to 13,059.47 and the S&P 500 tumbled 58.94 points or 1.4 percent to 4,229.45.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index slumped by 1.0 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Tuesday on optimism that OPEC+ won't change its production policy at the committee's meeting later today. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.41 or 0.5 percent at $89.23 a barrel.