Tech falls take toll on market

AUSTRALIAN shares retreated from Monday’s big gains, following falls from Wall Street and a sell down among tech stocks.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 75.8 points, or 1.1 per cent to 7079, while the All Ordinaries closed 1.2 per cent lower, or 88.2 points down to an index position of 7331.6.

At the close of the local session, the Australian dollar was buying 78.31 US cents and the spot gold value stood at $US1835.82 an ounce.

CommSec analyst Steven Daghlian said it was the second fall out of seven consecutive trading days, however investors locally were eager to see the details of the federal budget.

“All eyes will be on the budget,” Mr Daghlian said. “But, historically it has never had a huge impact on the market (the day after), partly because a lot of the important stuff tends to be quite well communicated heading up to the night.”

Sell-offs in the US markets of shares in Facebook, Apple and PayPal dented the performance of local tech stocks.

Buy now, pay later Zip was the worst performing stock of the day, tumbling 9.1 per cent to $6.76 and was quickly followed by rival Afterpay which fell 8.7 per cent to $89. Iron ore prices jumped to an excess of more than $US230 per tonne, however the record rise of close to 8 per cent did not spark gains for major miners, which led Monday’s charge.