Australian Market Slightly Lower

The Australian market is slightly lower in choppy trading on Thursday, giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from global markets overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying above the 7,700 level, with losses in financial and technology stocks nearly offset by gains in mining and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 7.60 points or 0.10 percent to 7,721.80, after touching a high of 7,744.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 9.10 points or 0.11 percent to 7,980.40. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 2 percent, BHP Group is adding almost 3 percent and Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.1 percent, while Mineral Resources is edging down 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is gaining almost 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent. Origin Energy is losing more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is surging almost 5 percent and WiseTech Global is edging up 0.5 percent, while Xero is edging down 0.4 percent and Zip is sliding almost 5 percent. Appen is plunging more than 15 percent after US-based Innodata withdrew its $154 million bid, a day after it was forced to reveal it was the subject of a confidential takeover offer.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is losing more than 1 percent and Westpac is down almost 3 percent, while ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are declining more than 2 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is surging more than 7 percent, Newmont is gaining more than 1 percent and Resolute Mining is advancing almost 2 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Northern Star Resources are adding more than 2 percent each.

In other news, shares in Aussie Broadband are plummeting more than 18 percent after it lost a white-label deal with Origin Energy to Superloop.

Meanwhile, shares in Superloop skyrocketed almost 26 percent after it subsequently upgraded its FY24 earning guidance.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.663 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Wednesday following the significant rebound seen during Tuesday’s session. The major averages spent most of the day on opposite sides of the unchanged line before closing mixed.

While the Dow inched up 37.83 points or 0.1 percent to 39,043.32, closing higher for the third consecutive session, the S&P 500 dipped 9.96 points or 0.2 percent to 5,165.31 and the Nasdaq slid 87.87 points or 0.5 percent to 16,177.77.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved modestly higher on the day. The French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.6 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent, although the German DAX Index closed just below the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while supply disruptions in Russia also contributed to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April rose $2.16 or 2.8 percent at $79.72 a barrel.

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