Shares down as market confronts ‘wall of worry’

THE Australian sharemarket took a hit on Wednesday following a slump on

Wall Street.

The benchmark ASX200 index closed 1.08 per cent lower at 7196.7 points.

In the US, the tech-heavy Nasdaq suffered its biggest drop since March, slumping 2.8 per cent overnight on Tuesday while the S&P 500 lost 2 per cent.

A drop in US consumer confidence added to the negative sentiment as lawmakers in Washington continued their stalemate over the debt ceiling in ongoing budget negotiations.

European stocks also fell amid fresh signs of a slowdown in China’s economy.

Locally, tech stocks were among the biggest losers. Buy-now-pay later market darling Afterpay sank 4.17 per cent to $121.93, smaller rival Zip fell 1.83 per cent to $6.97 and data centre operator NEXTDC slipped 2.73 per cent to $12.12.