(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Wednesday after early losses, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 just below the 6,800 level, despite the negative cues overnight from Wall Street. Gains in the technology stocks were slightly offset by weakness in materials and energy stocks amid weak commodity prices.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 28.00 points or 0.42 percent to 6,773.40, after falling to a low of 6,735.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is higher by 25.20 points or 0.36 percent to 7,011.80. Australian stocks gave up early gains to end slightly lower on Tuesday.
Among major miners, BHP Group is edging up 0.2 percent and Rio Tinto is up almost 1 percent, while Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.5 percent.
In the tech space, Appen and Afterpay are adding up more than 1 percent each, while WiseTech Global is gaining more than 2 percent.
Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are flat, while Westpac is down almost 1 percent. Commonwealth Bank is gaining more than 1 percent.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has ordered Westpac to conduct independent reviews and hold additional liquid assets, due to problems with its risk governance and liquidity risk management.
Gold miners are lower after the gold price tumbled. Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are edging down 0.5 percent each, while Newcrest Mining is losing more than 1 percent.
Oil stocks are also lower after crude oil prices sank overnight. Oil Search is declining almost 3 percent, while Woodside Petroleum and Santos are down almost 1 percent each.
Santos has been awarded a major contract for the construction, connection, and operation of the floating production and storage offtake vessels for its Barossa joint venture LNG project, planned north of Darwin.
Among the companies paying dividends are stock exchange operator ASX Ltd, iron ore giant Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. and healthcare company Sonic Healthcare Ltd.
Shares in Airtasker are soaring almost 36 percent on debut after the online marketplace said it can meet or beat the full-year guidance it provided in the prospectus.
Shares in Clinvuel Pharmaceuticals are declining 2.4 percent after the biotech company confirmed the expansion of research on its major product which can help repair skin cells damaged by UV rays.
Computershare was in a trading halt after stock transfer firm announced plans to spend US$750 million to buy Wells Fargo's Corporate Trust Services (CTS) to help it leapfrog to the fourth-largest corporate trust provider in the U.S. from eighth.
In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in March, and at a slightly faster pace, the latest survey from Markit Economics showed on Wednesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 57.0. That's up from 56.9 in February and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Australia's services PMI came in at 56.2, up sharply from 53.4 in February, while the composite index had a score of 56.2 - up from 53.7 in the previous month.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.761 on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout much of the trading day on Tuesday but showed a notable move to the downside in the latter part of the session. The major averages all slid firmly into negative territory.
The major averages ended the session near their worst levels of the day. The Dow slumped 308.05 points or 0.9 percent to 32,423.15, the Nasdaq tumbled 149.85 points or 1.1 percent to 13,227.70 and the S&P 500 slid 30.07 points or 0.8 percent to 3,910.52.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index closed just above the unchanged line, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both fell by 0.4 percent.
Crude oil prices tanked on Tuesday amid rising concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to the extension of lockdown measures in several parts of Europe. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended down $3.80 or 6.2 percent at $57.76 a barrel.
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