$30 billion wiped: Aussie shares plunge Monday morning
The Australian share market has opened 1.66 per cent lower Monday morning, which equates to $30 billion of value lost.
The ASX200, which is an index of the most prominent 200 companies, sunk 108.5 points (1.66 per cent) upon opening of the market, while the All Ordinaries descended 107.7 points (1.63 per cent).
While every sector opened in the red, energy and technology shares were especially hammered, falling 2.91 per cent and 2.82 per cent respectively.
The Australian sell-off comes after the US markets sunk over the weekend upon yet another escalation in the US-China trade war.
US president Donald Trump sent out six tweets on Saturday Australia time that wiped out $744 billion of value in American markets.
He discussed how frustrated he was with his own federal reserve, slapped further tariffs on Chinese imports into the US and instructed US companies to move their manufacturing out of China.
The Australian market's dive on Monday morning brings home the direct impact the instability in the US has on the wealth of most Australians.
While not many Australians directly own shares, many are exposed to the ups and downs of the markets through superannuation.
When the ASX sunk 5.5 per cent over one week earlier this month, it was estimated the average Australian lost $5,500 from their savings. Older Australians with larger nest eggs would have had even more wiped out.
The turmoil in share markets comes on top of Australian dollar’s plunge this month into its lowest value in ten years against the US dollar.
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