Australian shares experienced significant losses on Tuesday, following a decline on Wall Street fueled by strong US retail sales data, dampening expectations of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed 1.8 percent lower, with notable declines in consumer stocks, utilities, and mining sectors, marking the largest one-day drop since March the previous year. Heightened geopolitical tensions, coupled with concerns over rising US inflation and Middle East conflicts, contributed to investor unease, driving a sell-off in equities despite better-than-expected economic data from China.
Futures
The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a fall of 63 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a fall of 7.75 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a fall of 19.50 points.
The SPI futures are down 142 points.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector was Communication Services, down 1.03 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Consumer Discretionary, down 2.39 per cent.
The best-performing large cap was Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY), closing 5.88 per cent higher at $6.30. It was followed by shares in Meridian Energy (ASX:MEZ) and Yancoal Australia (ASX:YAL).
The worst-performing large cap was IGO (ASX:IGO), closing 5.73 per cent lower at $7.24. It was followed by shares in South32 (ASX:S32) and Pro Medicus (ASX:PME).
Asian markets
Japan's Nikkei has lost 1.94 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 1.89 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has lost 0.90 per cent.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$2,403.60 an ounce.
Iron ore is 0.9 per cent higher at US$113.05 a tonne.
Light crude is trading $0.50 higher at US$85.91 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 64.15 US cents.
