Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading modestly lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 8,750 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in gold miners, energy and financial stocks partially offset by slight gains iron ore miners.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 34.00 points or 0.39 percent to 8,744.70, after hitting a low of 8,727.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 33.30 points or 0.37 percent to 8,952.90. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 1 percent, while Fortescue, Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent and Origin Energy is down more than 1 percent, while Santos and Beach energy is edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is declining almost 4 percent, Zip is losing more than 2 percent and Xero is slipping almost 1 percent, while WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent and Appen is up more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac is declining almost 2 percent and ANZ Banking is edging down 0.5 percent, while Commonwealth Bank and National Australia bank are losing more than 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent, while Genesis Minerals and Resolute Mining are declining almost 2 percent each. Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.2 percent. Newmont is flat.

In other news, shares in IperionX are surging almost 9 percent after it secured up to US$6.6 million or A$9.54 million from the US Department of Defence to expand domestic production of ballistic-grade titanium plate and large-format defence components at its Virginia manufacturing campus.

Shares in Coles are tumbling more than 6 percent after the ACCC blocked the supermarket giant's proposed acquisition of a leasehold interest in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.690 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks saw further upside during trading on Tuesday following the rally seen over the course of Monday's session. The major averages all moved higher on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq extending yesterday's surge.

The Nasdaq shot up 393.58 points or 1.5 percent to 26,213.72, further offsetting the steep drop seen last week. The S&P 500 also advanced 58.93 points or 0.8 percent to 7,499.36, while the narrower Dow posted a more modest gain, rising 136.46 points or 0.3 percent to a new record closing high of 52,319.20. The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices slumped amid conflicting messages about a new round of talks between the U.S. and Iran. While President Donald Trump claimed a meeting is set to be held in Qatar, a spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry reportedly denied that talks were scheduled.