Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading modestly lower in choppy trading on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,400 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with losses in gold miners, technology and energy stocks amid tumbling gold and crude oil prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 15.90 points or 0.21 percent to 7,398.90, after hitting a low of 7,395.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 16.40 points or 0.21 percent to 7,630.70. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources, Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are gaining more than 1 percent each, while BHP Group is adding almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is losing almost 1 percent and Woodside Energy is declining more than 1 percent, while Origin Energy and Beach energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each. In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 1 percent and Appen is declining more than 3 percent, while Xero and Zip are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each. WiseTech Global is flat.

Among the big four banks, , ANZ Banking is edging up 0.5 percent and National Australia Bank is gaining almost 1 percent, while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

Among gold miners, Newmont and Resolute Mining are declining almost 4 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is sliding more than 3 percent, Northern Star Resources is losing more than 4 percent and Evolution Mining is plummeting almost 20 percent after it revised the production guidance for its Red Lake mine, in northern Ontario, Canada.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.658 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks closed notably lower on Tuesday as higher Treasury yields and concerns that the Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates anytime soon hurt sentiment.

The major averages all ended in the red with the Dow finishing with a more pronounced loss. The Dow settled with a loss of 231.86 points or 0.62 percent at 37,361.12, the S&P 500 ended down 17.85 points or 0.37 percent at 4,765.98 and the Nasdaq closed with a marginal loss of 28.41 points or 0.19 percent at 14,944.35.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 drifted down 0.48 percent, Germany's DAX dropped 0.3 percent and France's CAC 40 settled lower by 0.18 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday as a stronger dollar and forecasts that weather in the U.S. will be warmer than normal weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended down $0.28 at $72.40 a barrel.