Energy stocks slide as ASX loses ground

THE Australian sharemarket was unable to fully recover from an early stumble following a negative lead from Wall Street, with blue chip stocks among those in the red.

The benchmark ASX200 index slipped as low as 7378.9 points before recovering some ground to finish at 7417 points, down 0.27 per cent for the day.

The All Ordinaries Index fell 0.22 per cent to 7723.2.

CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman is currently forecasting that the ASX 200 will finish the year around 7450 points, just shy of current levels, saying investors had begun to reassess company valuations amid rising economic risks including the reduction in central bank stimulus, building inflationary pressures and record Delta infections.

Energy stocks were among the worst performers on Wednesday.

AGL slumped 7.44 per cent to $5.85, Beach Energy dropped 4.04 per cent to $1.07, Santos declined 3.54 per cent to $6.26, Oil Search retreated 3.05 per cent to $3.82 and Origin Energy backtracked 3.49 per cent to $4.42.