War leaves investors wary

THE Australian sharemarket eased into the weekend as investors took risk off the table with one eye on the rolling conflict in Eastern Europe.

Any good vibes around a potential thawing of relations between Russia and Ukraine faded fast on Friday, with the benchmark ASX 200 following US and European markets lower to close out the week down 0.7 per cent.

A two session relief rally came to an end on Friday as tenuous hopes of a Russia and Ukraine ceasefire were snuffed out and inflationary pressures once again turned the heat on central banks.

The local bourse fell 67.2 points, or 0.9 per cent, to close a whipsawing week at 7063.6, with riskier sectors such as technology, health care, and payment firms copping a beating.

Zip Co – which released details of its $50m share purchase plan – fell 7.6 per cent to $1.575, while Afterpay parent Block dropped 3.2 per cent to $146.40.

Blood giant CSL was another prominent casualty with a 2.5 per cent decline to $256.53, while real estate portal REA Group, accounting software firm Xero and tech luminary Wisetech Global each fell heavily.

The broader All Ordinaries dropped 71.6 points, or 1 per cent, to close at 7339.3, while the Australian dollar had edged higher to 73.31 US cents at the local close.

City Index analyst Tony Sycamore noted US stocks had set the tone with a weak lead as geopolitical tensions accelerated the inflation rate to 7.9 per cent in February, the highest since January 1982.

The war in Ukraine has badly exacerbated existing supply chain issues and sent the cost of food, fuel and core commodity prices surging over the past couple of weeks, with traders fearing global growth will suffer as central banks struggle to keep a lid on inflation.