Gold bucks market slide
ALL that glittered on Australian markets was gold as the ASX ended its second worst day of the year after a “perfect storm” on Wall Street caused heavy stock losses across every other sector.
After plunging at the opening, the benchmark S&P/ ASX200 index slid down 166 points, or 2.74 per cent, to 5883.8 points at 4.30pm yesterday, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 170.4 points, or 2.76 per cent, at 5993.4.
Rakuten Securities Australia’s chief operating officer Nick Twidale said the tumble on Wall Street triggered markets to fall across the Asia Pacific region.
US-China trade tensions have escalated in the past week, with China on Friday reducing the amount of cash that banks have to hold in reserve, a move that seemed in retali- ation to the US, Mr Twidale said.
Mr Twidale expects the Australian markets will fall lower over the next few days, and warned of lingering wariness in the market as traders fear a further deterioration in US-China trade relations.
He expects the Aussie dollar to slide below 70 US cents soon, despite battling against the tide yesterday to buy 70.74 US cents at the close, up from 70.13 at the same time on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, tech-related shares suffered the biggest de- cline, the sector shedding more than 5.24 per cent off the back of a poor US session.
Energy and healthcare have also taken a beating, falling 3.75 and 3.46 respectively while the heavyweight financial and materials sectors too were in the doldrums.
Only gold miners and Fortescue Metals Group offered any real relief.
Asian markets also plunged following the worst session on Wall Street for months. Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai all plummeted around four percent in morning trade.