The Australian stock market is deepening its losses in mid-market trading on Tuesday, adding to declines from the previous session despite broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index has fallen below the 8,800 level, losing 59.00 points or 0.67 percent to trade at 8,790.60, after hitting an earlier low of 8,786.80.
The broader All Ordinaries Index is also under pressure, down 57.40 points or 0.63 percent to 9,069.50, as weakness across multiple sectors weighs on sentiment.
Iron ore miners are among the notable laggards, with BHP Group and Rio Tinto each losing more than 1 percent, while Mineral Resources is edging down 0.5 percent.
Fortescue is bucking the trend among miners, gaining almost 1 percent, as gold stocks provide pockets of strength across the broader market.
Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are each gaining almost 1 percent, while Resolute Mining is surging more than 9 percent, partially offsetting losses elsewhere.
The big four banks are uniformly lower, with Commonwealth Bank declining more than 1 percent and ANZ Banking and Westpac each losing almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank edges down 0.1 percent.
ANZ announced plans to cut 3,500 staff, representing about 10 percent of its Australian workforce, along with 1,000 contractors over the next 12 months as part of its plan to “simplify the bank.”
In the technology sector, Zip, WiseTech Global, and Appen are all declining, with each losing around 2 percent, while Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent.
Oil stocks are broadly weaker, with Beach Energy losing more than 1 percent and Santos and Woodside Energy each declining almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy edges down 0.3 percent.
On the economic data front, Australia’s Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index dropped 3.1 percent on the month to 95.4 in September, reversing August’s 5.7 percent gain when the index reached 98.5, its highest level in more than three years.
The 12-month consumer outlook fell 8.9 percent to 92.2, while the five-year outlook declined 5.9 percent to 92.7, signaling a broad pullback in forward-looking confidence.
Australia’s NAB Business Confidence Index also fell to a three-month low of 4 in August, down from an upwardly revised 8 in the prior month, which had been the highest reading since August 2022.
The Australian dollar is trading at $0.660 against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, as markets continue to absorb the latest round of domestic economic data.
