ASX down 1.6% in global selloff
The Australian stock market has closed Thursday in the red, after the day kicked off to a bad start amid rising global coronavirus cases.
The benchmark ASX200 fell 97.4 points or 1.61 per cent to 5,960.3 at the close of the day, while the broader All Ordinaries sank 93.8 points or 1.5 per cent to 6,168 points.
Westgold Resources was a serious drag on the index, falling 8.9 per cent, while JB Hi Fi also lagged, falling 6.18 per cent.
Seek was the third-worst performing, sliding 5.91 per cent after a report exposed a Seek-owned platform falsified job ads and carried a dangerous amount of debt. More on that here.
What happened at lunch?
The Australian stock market slightly recouped some of its losses from the morning at 12:30pm AEDT, with the benchmark ASX 200 falling by 78.4 points or 1.29 per cent to 5,979.3 points.
The broader All Ordinaries dropped by 79.2 points or 1.26 per cent to 6,182.6 points.
Among the biggest drags on the benchmark index were major mining companies Westgold Resources (down 8.19 per cent), Ramelius Resources (down 5.91 per cent) and Saracen Mineral Holdings (down 5.08 per cent).
Job ad site Seek was also down 5.91 per cent after announcing a pause in trading “pending a further announcement”.
What happened this morning?
Jitters shot through the Australian stock market at the open this morning after Wall Street closed in the red overnight amid rising coronavirus cases and investors’ concerns about the upcoming US presidential election.
The benchmark ASX200 fell by 103 points or 1.51 per cent to 5,954.7 points after opening, while the broader All Ordinaries fell by 110.6 points or 1.58 per cent to 6,151.2 as at 10:23am AEDT.
What happened overnight?
The mounting cases of Covid-19 in America and globally, as well as US politicians’ inability to reach a deal to pass a new fiscal stimulus bill before the election saw each of the major US indices close more than 3 per cent lower.
The Dow Jones hit lows not seen since late July, falling by 3.42 per cent; the S&P 500 dropped by 3.52 per cent; while the Nasdaq Composite slid by 3.73 per cent.
Twelve US states hit record highs for hospitalised Covid-19 patients, while Germany and France both announced lockdown plans for a month as the pandemic spread across europe.
“Obviously the virus is out of control. It's spiking, it's bad,” said Chicago-based North Star Investment Management Corp chief investment officer Eric Kuby,
“The concept that... it's going to disappear is just a faulty assumption.”
Yahoo Finance will be updating this article regularly throughout the day.
–with AAP
Make your money work with Yahoo Finance’s daily newsletter. Sign up here and stay on top of the latest money, property and economy news and more.
Follow Yahoo Finance Australia on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
