The Australian sharemarket plunged over 2 per cent in the afternoon session, heavily weighed down by materials and energy stocks. Friday’s session saw all sectors close in negative territory with consumer staples shedding the least.
Whitehaven Coal
(ASX:WHC) fell 6.2 per cent to $2.77 per cent after the miner felt the impact of heavy rain across the east side of the nation. Labour shortages also weighed on operations and road access, which led to a fall in production and sales volumes for the quarter, with full year production targets cut by 5 per cent.
Heavyweight miners were lower as BHP
(ASX:BHP) dropped 4.9 per cent, Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) fell 4.2 per cent and Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG) closed 2.2 per cent lower.
Gold stocks added to the fall except Northern Star Resources
(ASX:NST) which rose 1.1 per cent. Newcrest Mining
(ASX:NCM) was down 1.1 per cent after Pretium shareholders approved its acquisition and Evolution Mining
(ASX:EVN) was also down 1 per cent.
Energy stocks suffered with Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT) down 3.1 per cent, Santos
(ASX:STO) down 2.6 per cent and Woodside Petroleum
(ASX:WPL) closing 2.4 per cent lower.
In the tech space, Nuix
(ASX:NXL) tumbled 22.6 per cent to $1.60 as legal costs haunted the software firm. The company expects to report a substantial fall in earnings for the first half of the financial year 2022. Existing customers have helped buoy the company’s revenue while earnings from new customers are lower. Revenue is set to come in 3.5 per cent lower at $82 million to $85 million compared to the prior corresponding period.
In other company news, Virtus Health
(ASX:VRT) welcomed yesterday’s announcement from the Victorian Government after listening to the many people impacted by the suspension of IVF procedures in Victoria. Shares closed 0.6 per cent higher at $7.24.
Major banks closed lower led by Macquarie Bank
(ASX:MQG) down 3.8 per cent, ANZ Bank
(ASX:ANZ) fell 1.6 per cent, Commonwealth
(ASX:CBA) and National Australian Bank
(ASX:NAB) were both down 1.3 per cent and Westpac
(ASX:WBC) closed 0.6 per cent lower.
Elsewhere, chemicals company Nufarm
(ASX:NUF) closed 2.6 per cent after raising US$350 million to refinance debt.
At the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 was 2.3 per cent or 167 points lower at 7,176. Over the week it closed 3 per cent or 218 points lower.
FuturesThe Dow Jones futures are pointing to a fall of 74 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a fall of 28 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a fall of 184 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a fall of 173 points when the market next opens.
Best and worst performersAll sectors closed in the red. The sector with the fewest losses was Consumer Staples, down 1.1 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Materials, down 3.5 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Ramelius Resources
(ASX:RMS), closing 2.9 per cent higher at $1.59. It was followed by shares in Boral
(ASX:BLD) and Gold Road Resources
(ASX:GOR).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Paladin Energy
(ASX:PDN), closing almost 11 per cent lower at $0.77. It was followed by shares in Zip Co
(ASX:Z1P) and Lynas Rare Earths
(ASX:LYC).
Asian marketsJapan's Nikkei has lost 1.5 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 0.7 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has lost almost 1 per cent.
Wall StreetOver the last four trading days, the Dow Jones lost 3.5 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 4 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 5.2 per cent.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1841.70 an ounce.
Iron ore is 2.6 per cent higher at US$133.65 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 1.8 per cent.
Light crude is trading $1.84 lower at US$83.71 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 71.87 US cents.
