(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly lower on Wednesday after opening in the green, giving up some of the sharp gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 just below the 7,600 level, following the mostly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders remain concerned about the sharp spike in new coronavirus infections. New South Wales continues to hit new daily records of 35,054 new cases and eight deaths on Tuesday. Victoria reported a new daily record of 17,636 new cases and 11 deaths. Queensland recorded 6,781 new cases, ACT reported 810 new cases and Tasmania reported 867 new cases.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 17.80 points or 0.24 percent to 7,572.00, after hitting a low of 7,567.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 19.50 points or 0.25 percent to 7,907.30. Australian stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday.
Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are gaining almost 1 percent each, while OZ Minerals is edging down 0.4 percent. Rio Tinto is edging up 0.3 percent and Mineral Resources is flat.
Oil stocks are higher. Woodside Petroleum is edging up 0.3 percent, Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent, Santos is adding almost 2 percent and Beach energy is flat. In the tech space, Afterpay and Zip are slipping almost 4 percent each, while Appen and Xero are declining almost 3 percent each. WiseTech Global is losing more than 2 percent. Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.5 percent. ANZ Banking is flat.
Among gold miners, Gold Road Resources is losing almost 1 percent, while Evolution Mining is edging up 0.3 percent. Resolute Mining, Northern Star Resources and Newcrest Mining are up 0.5 percent each. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.724 on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks turned a starkly mixed performance during trading on Tuesday after moving notably higher over the course of the previous session. While the Dow climbed to a new record closing high, the tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a substantial pullback.
The Dow ended the session off its best levels of the day but still closed up 214.59 points or 0.6 percent at 36,799.65. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq tumbled 210.08 points or 1.3 percent to 15,622.72 and the S&P 500 edged down 3.02 points or 0.1 percent to 4,793.54 after reaching a record intraday high.
Meanwhile, the major European markets showed strong moves to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.4 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday after OPEC said it would stick to its plan to raise monthly crude production by 400,000 barrels per day in February. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for February ended higher by $0.91 or 1.2 percent at $76.99 a barrel.
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