The Australian stock market experienced a notable downturn on Thursday, interrupting a five-day streak of gains. This decline follows mixed signals from Wall Street overnight. The S&P/ASX 200 index has slipped, though it remains just above the 8,300 mark, with significant weakness observed in the technology and iron ore mining sectors, while gold miners provided a contrasting positive performance.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped by 46.50 points, or 0.56%, settling at 8,302.60, after reaching an earlier low of 8,293.30. Meanwhile, the broader All Ordinaries Index declined by 48.00 points, or 0.56%, to 8,551.40. The market had closed significantly higher the previous day.
In the mining sector, Mineral Resources fell by 2.5%, Rio Tinto decreased by nearly 1%, and BHP Group saw a loss exceeding 1%. Fortescue Metals, however, remained stable.
The oil sector also faced declines, with both Woodside Energy and Santos retreating over 1%, while Beach Energy and Origin Energy were each down nearly 1%.
The technology sector witnessed Block, the owner of Afterpay, losing over 2%, WiseTech Global slightly decreased by 0.3%, Appen dropped almost 7%, and Zip fell close to 2%. Xero stayed flat.
Among Australia's big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking, Westpac, and National Australia Bank experienced slight declines ranging from 0.3% to 0.5% each. In contrast, the gold mining sector bucked the trend, with Evolution Mining rising by over 1%, Gold Road Resources advancing more than 2%, Newmont increasing nearly 3%, and Northern Star Resources gaining over 3%. Resolute Mining, however, decreased by almost 2%.
In other developments, Star Entertainment's shares plunged over 23% after revealing a dwindling cash reserve of just $79 million, significantly less than its expenditure over the preceding three months. Furthermore, Avita Medical's shares fell more than 12% following an announcement of missing revenue forecasts.
On the economic front, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that retail sales in Australia increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.8% month-on-month in November, amounting to A$37.052 billion. This result fell short of the expected 1.0% rise but was an improvement from October's 0.6% increase. Additionally, Australia recorded a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus of A$7.079 billion in November, surpassing the anticipated A$5.750 billion. This followed an upward revision of October’s surplus from A$5.593 billion to A$5.670 billion.
Exports grew by 4.8% to A$43.816 billion, compared to a revised 3.5% rise the previous month. Imports increased by 1.7% to A$36.737 billion, following a downward revision of the prior month's data from a 0.1% increase to no change.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is trading at $0.620.
On Wall Street, there was no clear direction on Wednesday as stocks fluctuated following the sharp decline on Tuesday. The major indices wavered around the unchanged line, eventually closing with mixed results. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slightly decreased by 10.80 points, or 0.1%, to 19,478.87. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones gained 106.84 points, or 0.3%, reaching 42,635.20, and the S&P 500 edged up by 9.22 points, or 0.2%, to 5,918.25.
European markets also ended the day with mixed results. The FTSE 100 Index in the U.K. inched up by 0.1%, whereas Germany’s DAX Index decreased by 0.1%, and France’s CAC 40 Index fell by 0.5%.
Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday, pressured by a notable rise in gasoline inventories and a stronger dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed at $73.32 a barrel, marking a decrease of $0.93, or 1.25%.
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