Australia’s major banks continued their sell-off on Wednesday, as they dragged the overall sharemarket to its lowest level in almost six months.
The benchmark ASX 200 slipped 21.20 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 8447.90 while the broader All Ordinaries fell 16.90 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 8721.40.
Wednesday’s slip followed a rough Tuesday trading session where more than $60bn was wiped off the market.
The Australian dollar also fell and is now buying 64.92 US cents.
On an overall negative day of trading, seven of the 11 sectors finished lower on Wednesday, led by the major banks and technology businesses.
Commonwealth Bank shares dropped 1.25 per cent to $151.30, Westpac slumped 1.40 per cent to $37.34, NAB slipped 0.69 per cent to $40.32 and ANZ under performed down 2.04 per cent to $35.12.
Technology shares continued their sell-off after they gave up almost six per cent on Tuesday.
Capital.com senior financial market analyst said investors were selling off technology stocks ahead of a key update out of the United States on Thursday.
“The markets continue to de-risk heading into critical jobs data and Nvidia’s earnings after Wall Street’s closing bell tomorrow,” he said.
“The dominant narratives in the market right now remain about the US rate outlook and the valuations of artificial intelligence stocks.”
Life360 fell 0.77 per cent to $35.00, Codan dropped 3.85 per cent to $29.44 and Megaport sank 5.58 per cent to $12.85.
Offsetting falls from the banks and technology names was a rising gold price which helped lift the local producers.
Northern Star Resources jumped 2.85 per cent to $25.59, Evolution mining was up 2.03 per cent to $11.04 and Newmont Corporation added 1.28 per cent to $133.06.
AMP chief economist and head of investment strategist Shane Oliver called the market’s valuation “stretched,” but pointed to positive signs for those with a long-term approach.
“Australian economic growth is gradually improving which should lead to stronger ASX listed company profits next year,” he said.
“So, there is no sign of recession which is important because major bear markets in shares tend to be associated with recession – although this is no guarantee as shares often lead the way.”
In company news, shares in Webjet Group Limited soared 16.56 per cent to $0.88 after Helloworld announced it was trying to take over the online travel agency.
CSL shares also slipped 0.48 per cent to $179.22 after it announced plans to invest around $US1.5bn ($2.3bn) investment that will allow it to manufacture more therapies derived from blood plasma collected in the US.
Defence contractor DroneShield plunged 19.59 per cent to $1.97 on news US chief executive Matt McCrann has resigned effective immediately.
NextDC shares slid 0.30 per cent to $13.51 after the board received its first strike on a pay report after more than 24 per cent of shareholders voted against the adoption of the remuneration report.
If it happens again next year, the company will get a second strike and shareholders can vote on whether directors need to stand for re-election.
Kathmandu, Rip Curl and Oboz parent company KMD Brands rose 2.13 per cent to $0.24 after announcing first quarter group sales grew 7.9 per cent over the August to October period.
