Australian Market Relatively Flat

The Australian stock market is relatively flat on Thursday, after the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,300 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in energy stocks offset by losses in financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 0.60 points or 0.01 percent to 7,338.60, after hitting a low of 7,320.90 and a high of 7,341.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 5.10 points or 0.07 percent to 7,548.50. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while is flat. Rio Tinto is edging down 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is gaining almost 2 percent, Beach energy is advancing more than 2 percent and Woodside Energy is adding more than 1 percent, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is edging down 0.3 percent, WiseTech Global is losing almost 2 percent, Xero is declining 2.5 percent and Appen is plunging more than 5 percent. Zip is flat.

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

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is edging down 0.5 percent and Newcrest Mining is losing more than 1 percent, while Gold Road Resources, Northern Star Resources and Resolute Mining are down almost 1 percent each.

In other news, shares in Cettire are soaring almost 16 percent after the luxury retailer’s full-year revenues doubled from last year.

Shares in Boral are surging more than 6 percent after the building materials company reported a double-digit increase in full-year revenues, despite a steep drop in net profit. It also sees higher earnings in 2024 on strong demand and higher commodity prices.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.653 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Wednesday before ending the day mostly lower. The major averages all moved to the downside, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 falling to their lowest closing levels in a month.

The major averages came under pressure going into the close, finishing the session firmly in the red. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 162.31 points or 1.2 percent to 13,722.02, the S&P 500 slid 31.67 points or 0.7 percent to 4,467.71 and the Dow fell 191.13 points or 0.5 percent at 35,123.36.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday, extending recent gains as output cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia continued to raise concerns about supply. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery jumped $1.48 pr 1.8 percent to $84.40 a barrel.

Market Analysis