Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - Dragged by the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, Australian shares are trading significantly lower and losing for the second straight session on Thursday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 6,800 level to 12-month lows, with losses across most sectors led by financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 67.70 points or 0.99 percent to 6,786.60, after hitting a low of 6,777.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 69.10 points or 0.98 percent to 6,977.20. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Fortescue Metals is losing almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is declining more than 2 percent, while BHP Group is edging up 0.1 percent and Rio Tinto is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is edging up 0.3 percent and Beach energy is gaining almost 2 percent, while Woodside Energy is edging down 0.3 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

In the tech space, Xero and Zip are declining more than 3 percent each, while Appen is sliding more than 6 percent, Afterpay owner Block is slipping 7.5 percent and WiseTech Global is losing almost 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are all losing almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Newcrest Mining and Northern Star Resources are losing almost 2 percent each, while Evolution Mining is declining more than 2 percent and Resolute Mining is slipping more than 4 percent. Gold Road Resources is gaining almost 2 percent.

In other news, shares in Azure Minerals are skyrocketing almost 43 percent after the lithium explorer agreed to a $1.63 billion buyout from Chilean giant Sociedad Química y Minera.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.629 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks managed to finish Tuesday's session mostly higher but showed a substantial move back to the downside during trading on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the pullback, plunging to a five-month closing low.

The Nasdaq tumbled 318.65 points or 2.4 percent to 12,821.22, reflecting its worst day since February. The S&P 500 also slumped 60.91 points or 1.4 percent to 4,186.77, its lowest closing level in almost five months, while the narrower Dow fell 105.45 points or 0.3 percent to 33,035.93.

Meanwhile, the major European markets showed modest moves to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday, snapping a three-day losing streak amid likely disruptions in supply due to the tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended higher by $1.65 or 1.97 percent at $85.39 a barrel.