Australian Market Notably Lower

The Australian market is trading notably lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,700 level, with weakness in mining and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 65.10 points or 0.75 percent to 8,662.80, after hitting a low of 8,641.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 76.60 points or 0.86 percent to 8,792.40. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing more than 4 percent each, while Mineral Resources is slipping almost 4 percent and Fortescue is declining almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Origin Energy is adding almost 2 percent and Santos is advancing more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent, while Zip, Appen and Xero are tumbling almost 6 percent each. WiseTech Global is gaining more than 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is advancing almost 2 percent, while Westpac, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is edging down 0.4 percent, Genesis Minerals is losing more than 1 percent, Northern Star Resources is down almost 1 percent, Resolute Mining is slipping almost 3 percent and Newmont is declining more than 2 percent.

In economic news, Australia posted a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4.7 percent in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That missed forecasts for 4.6 percent and was unchanged from the August reading following a revision from 4.6 percent.

The Australian economy lost 39.3K jobs last month versus expectations for an increase of 19.6K jobs following the downwardly revised addition of 29.3K in the previous month (originally 39.5K). The participation rate came in at 66.8 percent, missing forecasts for 67.0 percent, which would have been unchanged.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.696 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a more significant move to the downside during trading on Wednesday after ending yesterday’s choppy trading day modestly lower. The tech-heavy Nasdaq saw a particularly steep drop on the day.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the end of the day but still closed in the red. The Nasdaq tumbled 511.51 points or 1.9 percent to 26,692.87 and the S&P 500 slumped 86.51 points or 1.1 percent to 7,7718.94. The narrower Dow posted a much more modest loss, with the blue chip index edging down 48.62 points or 0.1 percent to 51,621.48.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices spiked on Wednesday after the International Energy Agency warned that the recent escalation in attacks on regional energy infrastructure and tanker traffic in the Middle East is threatening to derail a recovery in oil supply. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery climbed $1.20 or 1.3 percent to $95.34 a barrel.

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