The Australian sharemarket has tumbled in early trade after a wild night on Wall Street, with US stocks erasing a big morning gain to close sharply lower as the market remains skittish following weeks of doubts and erratic moves.
The S&P/ASX 200 was down 139.8 points, or 1.6 per cent, to 8412.9 shortly after the opening. All 11 industry sectors in negative territory, with tech and materials stocks plummeting.
Wall Street remains very nervy.Credit: Bloomberg
Mining stocks lost significant ground with iron ore giants BHP (down 3 per cent), Rio Tinto (down 2.5 per cent) and Fortescue (down3.2 per cent) tumbling in early trade. Gold miners plummeted, with Northern Star and Evolution Mining losing around 4 per cent.
Westpac lost 2.2 per cent as the big four banks went backwards, with ANZ (down 1.9 per cent), National Australia Bank (down 1.6 per cent) and Commonwealth Bank (down 1.2 per cent) losing ground.
Tech shares followed Wall Street’s Nasdaq lower, giving up their gains from Thursday’s bounce and more. WiseTech lost 2.4 per cent, Xero fell 2.1 per cent, Technology One shed 3.3 per cent and NextDC retreated 2.2 per cent.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has blocked US healthcare giant Cosette’s bid to buy Mayne Pharma, saying the $672 million deal would be contrary to Australia’s national interest. In a media release this morning, Chalmers said he had accepted the “very clear and unambiguous” recommendation from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) to block the deal.
Mayne’s share price jumped 21 per cent on Thursday on hopes that the deal may go ahead but fell 23 per cent on the announcement today before being placed in a trading halt.
Overnight, after initially soaring toward what seemed like its best day since May, with an early surge of 1.9 per cent, the S&P 500 erased all of it and fell 1.6 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 386 points, or 0.8 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite sank 2.2 per cent.
The Australian sharemarket is set for sharp losses, with futures at 7.59am AEDT pointing to a loss of 142 points, or 1.7 per cent, at the open. The Australian dollar was trading at US64.42 at 8.24am AEDT.
