The Australian stock market is declining on Thursday after three days of gains and following the lackluster cues overnight from Wall Street as the release of some upbeat U.S. economic data raised concerns lawmakers will feel less pressure to provide additional stimulus.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 32.50 points or 0.48 percent to 6,792.10 and the broader All Ordinaries Index is lower by 26.90 points or 0.38 percent to 7,064.00. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Wednesday.
The major miners are weak. Rio Tinto is lower by almost 1 percent, while BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are down 0.2 percent each.
Gold miners are mixed after gold prices edged higher overnight. Evolution Mining is declining almost 2 percent and Newcrest Mining is down almost 1 percent.
In the banking sector, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are higher in a range of 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.1 percent.
Westpac has lost a high court appeal over its telephone sales campaign that encouraged customers to roll over their superannuation savings into the bank's BT Super account.
Oil stocks are also mostly higher after crude oil prices advanced overnight. Oil Search is rising1 percent and Woodside Petroleum is adding 0.1 percent, while Santos is edging down 0.1 percent.
In the tech sector, WiseTech Global is advancing more than 2 percent and Afterpay is adding 0.4 percent, while Appen is losing almost 2 percent.
In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Australia had a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus of A$6.785 billion in December. That exceeded expectations for a A$6.0 billion surplus following the downwardly revised A$5.014 billion surplus in November.
Exports were up 3.0 percent on month to A$37.268 billion, in line with forecasts following the downwardly revised 2.8 percent increase in the previous month. Imports slipped 2.0 percent on month to A$30.483 billion versus expectations for a loss of 4.0 percent following the downwardly revised 9.3 percent increase a month earlier.
On Wall Street, stocks closed little changed in a lackluster session on Wednesday after moving sharply higher in the two previous sessions. A notable decline by shares of Amgen weighed on the Dow after the biotechnology company reported fourth-quarter results that beat estimates, but provided disappointing guidance. In addition, the release of some upbeat economic data raised concerns lawmakers will feel less pressure to provide additional stimulus.
While the Nasdaq edged down 2.23 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 13,610.54, the Dow inched up 36.12 points or 0.1 percent to 30,723.60 and the S&P 500 crept up 3.86 points or 0.1 percent to 3,830.17.
The major European turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index ended the day nearly unchanged and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil prices hit eleven-month highs on Wednesday, lifted by the decision of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies to cut crude production for two months. WTI crude for March delivery jumped $0.93 or about 1.7 percent to $55.69 a barrel.
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