The Australian stock market is extending its early losses in mid-market moves on Wednesday, but reversing some of the sharp gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling well below the 8,550 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in mining, technology and financial stocks partially offset by gains in energy stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 95.30 points or 1.11 percent to 8,509.40, after hitting a low of 8,501.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 97.90 points or 1.11 percent to 8,731.60. Australian stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday.
Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are declining more than 2 percent each, while Fortescue is losing almost 2 percent. Mineral Resources is edging up 0.4 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Santos are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Beach energy is adding more than 1 percent. Origin Energy is losing almost 2 percent.
In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent, Zip is declining more than 2 percent and WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent, while Appen and Xero are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each.
Among the big four banks, National Australia bank and Commonwealth Bank are losing almost 1 percent each, while Westpac and ANZ Banking are declining more than 1 percent each.
Among gold miners, Evolution Mining, Genesis Minerals, Resolute Mining and Newmont are tumbling almost 5 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is declining almost 3 percent.
In other news, shares in Electro Optic Systems are plunging almost 10 percent after it raised $150 million at $8 per share through an institutional raising. It also revealed a further $40 million strategic placement from defence-focused investors.
Shares in Catapult Sports are soaring more than 10 percent after the sports technology company reported upbeat results for the full-year 2026.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.710 on Wednesday.
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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.