FX.co ★ Australian Market Sharply Lower

Australian equities witnessed a notable decline on Wednesday, continuing their downward trajectory for the third consecutive session. The S&P/ASX 200 Index retreated beneath the 8,200 threshold, shedding 93.70 points or 1.14%, settling at 8,161.90, after reaching an intra-day low of 8,139.10. The broader All Ordinaries Index also decreased by 90.30 points or 1.06%, concluding at 8,424.90. This downturn can be attributed to the adverse influences from Wall Street, with significant weakness observed across numerous sectors, especially mining and energy, amid subdued commodity prices. The Australian market had also closed marginally lower on Tuesday.

Within the mining sector, BHP Group experienced a decline of nearly 2%, Rio Tinto over 3%, while Fortescue Metals remained stable. Mineral Resources saw a sharp decline of almost 7%, following an announcement that operations would be suspended at the Bald Hill site in Western Australia pending improvements in spodumene prices.

Energy stocks mirrored the downward trend, with Woodside Energy and Beach Energy both losing over 1%, and Santos and Origin Energy dipping between 0.3% to 0.5%. In the technology sector, Zip fell nearly 1%, Appen decreased almost 4%, whereas Block, the owner of Afterpay, rose nearly 4%. WiseTech Global and Xero registered modest gains of 0.1% to 0.5%.

Among the major banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac each saw declines close to 2%, National Australia Bank over 2%, and ANZ Banking almost 5%.

Gold mining stocks also faced pressures, with Evolution Mining and Newmont each falling by 1.5%. Gold Road Resources dipped nearly 1%, Northern Star Resources declined 0.4%, and Resolute Mining dropped over 3%.

Shares in Light & Wonder plummeted over 6%, despite reporting a 15% increase in gaming revenue for the quarter ending September, attributed to global growth in gaming machine sales. However, earnings per share failed to meet analyst expectations. In contrast, shares in James Hardie surged nearly 6% after reaffirming the lower end of its volume guidance despite a 23% drop in net profit, citing challenging demand in Asia and Europe.

In a major market move, Selfwealth shares soared 72% after receiving a buyout proposal from Bell Financial Group at $0.22 per share, almost double the previous day's closing price. In the foreign exchange market, the Australian dollar was trading at $0.652.

On Wall Street, Tuesday's session saw stocks backtrack, following gains achieved post-election last week. Despite fluctuations during the session, the main indices closed in negative terrain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average faced the most significant losses, falling by 382.15 points or 0.9% to 43,910.98. The S&P 500 slighted by 17.36 points or 0.3% to 5,983.99, while the Nasdaq saw a minor decrease of 17.36 points or 0.1% to 19,281.40.

European markets also experienced a substantial dip, with France's CAC 40 Index dropping 2.7%, Germany's DAX Index down 2.1%, and the UK's FTSE 100 Index descending 1.2%.

Crude oil prices inched up marginally on Tuesday, despite a reduction in OPEC's global oil demand forecast for 2025 and continued strength of the U.S. dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for December delivery rose by $0.08 to $68.12 per barrel.