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The Australian sharemarket has opened deep in the red, wiping an additional $30 billion off the value of the market, after US stocks and commodities plunged on European debt worries and concerns that the global economy is weaker than expected. Shortly after the opening bell, the S&P/ASX200 was down 114.4 points, or 2.5 per cent, at 4507.2 and the broader All Ordinaries index had shed 120.2 points, or 2.6 per cent, to 4523.9. On a sector-by-sector basis, only healthcare was in the black - and barely - telecoms were flat and materials were down 3.8 per cent, while gold stocks lost 4 per cent. Financial stocks were down 2.4 per cent. The sharemarket has now lost about 9 per cent from a closing high just shy of 5000 point mark on January 11. That decline amounts to the loss of about $110 billion in the ASX200's combined market value over that time. The benchmark index is on course for its fourth consecutive week of declines. "I just think it is a very good buying day, when our market declines for what I believe is no good reason," Mr Heffernan said. "I think we will improve over the course of the day when a bit more realism sneaks into it rather than just a knee jerk reaction to American and European news," he said. The big miners were among the hardest hit, after base metals fell overnight. The world's largest resources company, BHP Billiton, fell $1.45, or 3.5 per cent, to $39.54, while Rio Tinto was off $3.98, or 5.7 per cent, at $66.14. Gold miners all were lower with the price of the precious metal falling. Lihir fell 11 cents to $2.75, Newmont was off 20 cents at $4.97 and Newcrest was $1.08 lower at $30.89. The local spot price of gold was $US1066.30 per fine ounce, down $US41.80 on Thursday's close of $US1108.10. Oil and gas prices also were down overnight. Woodside Petroleum fell $1.34 to $41.86 and Oil Search was off 17 cents at $5.28. Gas giant Santos fell 46 cents to $13.30 while Origin Energy dropped 11 cents to $16.29. News Corp was down 38 cents at $17.86 while its non-voting scrip fell 35 cents to $15.29. Fairfax lost 4 cents to $1.71 and Consolidated Media dropped 8 cents to $3.03. Retailers sink Coles owner Wesfarmers dropped 65 cents to $26.90 and Woolworths was down 12 cents at $25.65. Myer declined 10 cents to $3.15 and David Jones had lost 16 cents at $4.57. Harvey Norman fell 11 cents to $3.61, after reporting a 4 per cent increase in first half sales and saying it expects first half profit to increase by more than 40 per cent. The top-traded stock by volume was Newsat Ltd, with 99.1 million shares worth $494,323 changing hands. Its share price was down 0.1 cent, or 16.67 per cent, at 0.5 cent. Overall turnover was 1.1 billion shares worth 1.44 billion, with 72 stocks up, 1,001 down and 177 unchanged. Offshore overnight Wall Street shares plunged as weak US data combined with heightened fears of debt problems in EU countries sent shockwaves through the markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 268.37 points, or 2.6 per cent, to 10,002.18 at the end of trade, after a brief dip below 10,000 for the first time since November. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped a hefty 65.48 points, or 3 per cent, to 2125.43 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 34.17 points, or 3.1 per cent, to a close of 1063.11. "Disappointing economic reports added to jitters created by European debt problems," said Scott Marcouiller at Wells Fargo Advisors.
Commodities, measured by the widely-watched Reuters/Jefferies Commodities Index, fell 2.6 per cent, the most since August 14.
(Source from: Business Day) |
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