Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading significantly lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, despite the slightly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling to near the 8,300 level, with weakness in iron ore miners, financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy and gold miner stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 81.40 points or 0.98 percent to 8,337.80, after hitting a low of 8,320.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 85.20 points or 0.98 percent to 8,613.90. Australian stocks ended significantly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing more than 2 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is sliding almost 7 percent after reporting downbeat half-yearly results amid falling iron ore oxide prices. Mineral Resources is edging up 0.2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is gaining more than 1 percent, Origin Energy is edging up 0.2 percent, Santos is advancing are more than 2 percent and Beach energy is adding almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 1 percent, Appen is declining more than 2 percent, Zip is losing more than 1 percent and Xero is edging down 0.5 percent. WiseTech Global is in a sudden trading halt amid a series of allegations levelled against its founder Richard White.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are declining 3.5 percent each, while Westpac is losing almost 3 percent and Commonwealth Bank is down more than 1 percent. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Newmont are advancing almost 1 percent each, while, Resolute Mining is adding almost 3 percent. Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.4 percent.

In other news, shares in Goodman Group are tumbling almost 6 percent after the industrial property giant announced the completion of a major capital raising of $4 billion through a fully underwritten institutional placement.

Shares in Megaport are skyrocketing almost 21 percent after the network-as-a-solutions provider announced stronger than expected half year result.

In economic news, The unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.1 percent in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - in line with expectations and up from 4.0 percent in December. The Australian economy added 44,000 jobs last month to 14,634,300, exceeding expectations for an increase of 19.400 jobs following the increase of 56,300 jobs in the previous month.

Full-time employment increased by 54,100 to 10,092,800 people, while part-time employment decreased by 10,100 to 4,541,500 people. The participation rate climbed to 67.3 percent, beating forecasts for 67.1 percent - which would have been unchanged.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.635 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved modestly lower early in the session on Wednesday but regained ground over the course of the trading day. The major averages climbed well off their early lows and into positive territory, with the S&P 500 once again reaching a new record closing high.

The major averages ended the day modestly higher. The S&P 500 rose 14.57 points or 0.2 percent to 6,144.15, the Dow climbed 71.25 points or 0.2 percent to 44,627.59 and the Nasdaq inched up 14.99 points or 0.1 percent to 20,056.25.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index tumbled 1.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher Wednesday, extending gains from previous session amid concerns about the outlook for supplies after a recent drone attack by Ukraine on a Russian pumping station. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March rose $0.40 or 0.56 percent at $72.25 a barrel.