(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably lower on Wednesday after two days of gains, following the sharp losses overnight on Wall Street for the third straight session amid continued selling in tech stocks. Worries that the coronavirus vaccine candidate being developed by AstraZeneca in partnership with the University of Oxford could be delayed also weighed on the market.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is falling 130.00 points or 2.16 percent to 5,877.80, after falling to a low of 5,866.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is losing 129.70 points or 2.10 percent to 6,060.50. Australian shares rose for the second straight day on Tuesday.
Among oil stocks, Oil Search and Santos are tumbling more than 4 percent each, while Woodside Petroleum is losing more than 3 percent after crude oil prices fell to near three-month lows overnight.
The tech stocks followed their U.S. peers lower. Afterpay is falling more than 5 percent, Appen is tumbling more than 3 percent and WiseTech Global is lower by more than 2 percent.
The big four banks are also notably lower. ANZ Banking, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are down in a range of 2.3 percent to 2.8 percent.
Among the major miners, Fortescue Metals is losing 2 percent, BHP Group is lower by almost 2 percent and Rio Tinto is declining almost 1 percent.
Meanwhile, gold miners are mixed after safe-haven gold prices rose overnight. Evolution Mining is down more than 1 percent, while Newcrest Mining is adding 0.3 percent.
In economic news, Australia will see September results for the consumer confidence index from Westpac as well as July figures for home loans today.
On Wall Street, stocks closed sharply lower on Tuesday as traders continued to cash in on recent strength in the markets, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 pulling back further off record highs. Technology stocks helped to lead the way lower once again, as Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple all posted steep losses on the day. Substantial weakness was also visible among energy stocks, which moved sharply lower along with the price of crude oil.
The Dow tumbled 632.42 points or 2.3 percent to 27,500.89, the Nasdaq plunged 465.44 points or 4.1 percent to 10,847.69 and the S&P 500 slumped 95.12 points or 2.8 percent to 3,331.84.
The major European markets also moved to the downside on Tuesday. While the French CAC 40 Index plunged by 1.6 percent, the German DAX Index slumped by 1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil futures settled at near three-month lows on Tuesday amid renewed worries about the outlook for energy demand. Crude for October delivery plunged $3.01 or about 7.6 percent to $36.76 a barrel.
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