(RTTNews) – The Australian stock market is notably lower on Thursday, giving up the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,000 mark, following the broadly negative overnight cues from Wall Street, with sharp losses in technology stocks. Traders also remain cautious amid concerns about economic slowdown, rising inflation and higher interest rates.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 53.30 points or 0.75 percent to 7,011.40, after hitting a low of 6,981.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 56.60 points or 0.78 percent to 7,247.80. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday.
Among major miners, BHP Group is edging up 0.1 percent, while OZ Minerals is losing almost 2 percent and Rio Tinto is edging down 0.2 percent. Fortescue Metals and Mineral Resources are flat.
Oil stocks are relatively flat. Origin Energy is flat, while Woodside Petroleum, Beach energy and Santos are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.
In the tech space, WiseTech Global is plunging almost 7 percent, Appen is down almost 3 percent, Afterpay owner Block is plummeting more than 15 percent, Zip is declining 4.5 percent and Xero is slipping almost 9 percent.
Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are flat, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each. Commonwealth Bank reported a steady third-quarter cash profit of $2.4 billion on loan growth.
Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources, Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are slipping more than 1 percent each, while Newcrest Mining is edging down 0.4 percent and Resolute Mining is declining almost 2 percent.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.693 on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks saw considerable volatility in morning trading on Wednesday before once again coming under substantial selling pressure in the afternoon. With the steep drop on the day, the best averages all ended the session at their lowest closing levels in over a year.
The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the day near their lows of the session. The Dow slumped 326.63 points or 1 percent to 31,834.11, the Nasdaq plunged 373.44 points or 3.2 percent to 11,364.24 and the S&P 500 tumbled 65.87 points or 1.7 percent to 3,935.18.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index surged by 2.5 percent, the German DAX Index shot up by 2.2 percent and the UK’s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.4 percent.
Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, rebounding sharply from recent losses thanks to data showing a significant drop in flows of Russian gas to Europe. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $5.95 or 6 percent at $105.71 a barrel.
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