Australian shares have plunged by more than 3 per cent during Thursday’s trading session and are on track for their worst fall in at least 18 months.
Key points:
- ASX gained 0.6pc on Wednesday after sanctions were imposed on Russia
- Wall St ends sharply lower despite higher open
- Brent crude was unchanged at settlement, gold was on the rise
The ASX 200 was down 3.1 per cent to 6,984 by 2:30pm AEDT.
All sectors were in the red, with industrials and mining leading the losses.
The All Ordinaries index was also down 3 per cent to 7,251 points.
Miners dropped to their lowest since earlier this month, as iron ore prices slumped on concerns regarding demand in China.
Sector heavyweights BHP (-7.5pc), Rio Tinto (-4.4pc) and Fortescue Metals (-3.5pc) all fell steeply.
Tech stocks dropped as much as 5 per cent to hit their lowest level since June 2020.
Tech company Life360 was the biggest loser on the benchmark index, plunging around 30 per cent to $4.62 after revealing its loss had doubled.
Appen slumped 27.7 per cent to $6.20 following its profit report.
Payments and buy now pay later companies including Block (-11.2pc), Zip (-9.9pc) and Tyro (-9.5pc) also got slammed.
Qantas fell 5.7 per cent after it posted a bigger-than-expected half-year loss and forecast a $650 million hit to second-half earnings before interest and tax due to Omicron.
However, CIMIC jumped by 33.4 per cent to $22 after the news about a takeover bid from Hochtief.
Gold miners Perseus Mining (+13.8pc), Ramelius Resources (+4.7pc) and Evolution Mining (+4.1pc).
Next DC (+3.7pc) and Nine Entertainment (+3pc) were also among the top gainers.
The Australian dollar was down slightly at 71.8 US cents this afternoon.
‘Isn’t surprising but frustrating’: Joyce
Qantas has reported a $456 million net loss in the first half of the 2022 financial year, limited by a major land sale in Mascot, but Delta and Omicron have resulted in even bigger operational losses.