The Australian stock market opened lower on Wednesday, as resource stocks were dragged lower by the overnight decline in commodity prices amid worries about the volatility in China's stock market.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index is declining 42.60 points or 0.76 percent to 5,538.80, off a low of 5,515.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 37.20 points or 0.67 percent to 5,526.80.
Miners are lower after iron ore prices plunged below $50 a ton overnight for the first time in nearly three months. BHP Billiton (BHP) is losing more than 1 percent, Rio Tinto (RIO) is declining 0.9 percent and Fortescue Metals is lower by almost 3 percent.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining is losing more than 3 percent and Evolution Mining is down almost 5 percent after gold prices tumbled overnight.
In the oil sector, Oil Search is down 0.6 percent, Woodside Petroleum is losing almost 1 percent and Santos is declining almost 2 percent after crude oil prices declined overnight.
The big four banks are also weak. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac (WBK) are lower in a range of 0.4 percent to 0.9 percent. Macquarie Group is down more than 1 percent.
Incitec Pivot said that its net profit for fiscal 2015 could be negatively hit by up to A$15 million, as the joint venture that supplies gas to its Moranbah plant expects to reduce supply until sometime in 2016. Shares of the explosives and fertilizer maker are declining more than 2 percent.
Meanwhile, shares of Webjet are higher by almost 7 percent after the online travel company affirmed its outlook for full-year underlying earnings despite a rise in costs and foreign currency fluctuations.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar touched a fresh six-year low against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, as the greenback, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Greek debt crisis, rallied. In early trades, the local unit was trading at US$0.7452, down from Tuesday's close of US$0.7485.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial turnaround on Tuesday, after falling sharply in early trading amid concerns about the ongoing Greek debt crisis. Selling pressure eventually waned due in part to optimism a deal could still be reached.
The Dow ended the day up 93.33 points or 0.5 percent to 17,776.91 after falling more than 200 points to its lowest intraday level in five months. The S&P 500 also climbed 12.58 points or 0.6 percent to 2,081.34, while the Nasdaq edged up 5.52 points or 0.1 percent to 4,997.46.
The major European markets all moved sharply lower on Tuesday as concerns over Greece continued to weigh on investor sentiment. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index tumbled by 1.6 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index plummeted by 2 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil ended lower for a fourth straight session on Tuesday, as the dollar trended higher against some major currencies and investors kept a close watch on the Iran nuclear agreement with talks reportedly extended until Friday.
Crude Oil futures for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, fell $0.20 or 0.4 percent, to settle at $52.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday.
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Market Analysis
May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.