Tech, health losses hurt bourse

THE Australian sharemarket finished lower on Tuesday, driven by losses among tech, mining and healthcare stocks.

The S&P/ASX200 was 0.27 per cent weaker at 6679.1 while the All Ordinaries Index eased 0.29 per cent to 6939.1.

CommSec analyst

Steve

Daghlian said the bourse opened marginally higher, shrugging off a weak lead from Wall Street, mixed commodity prices and the futures market suggesting a negative start.

But it ground lower in afternoon trade and would have been worse if not for gains by the big banks. Payment tech company Tyro fell 8.25 per cent to $2.89 due to an EFTPOS terminal outage that began a week ago, frustrating thousands of small business owners.

Online accounting software company Xero dipped 2.33 per cent to $132.76, electronics design software firm Altium dropped 2.11 per cent to $30.13 after reporting a dip in first half revenue and buy now, pay later market leader Afterpay slipped 1.88 per cent to $111.85.

Another instalment payment platform, Sezzle, delivered record fourth quarter results, sending its shares 2.72 per cent higher to $6.42.

Skin regeneration solutions company PolyNovo slumped 12.98 per cent to $2.95 after saying sales had been slower than expected in October and November.

Biotech giant CSL retreated 1.04 per cent to $273.07. Winners included Super Retail Group, which owns Supercheap Auto, BCF and Rebel, rising 5.47 per cent to $11.56, while brewers and distillers provider United Malt Group appreciated 4.09 per cent to $4.07.