A selloff in mining and energy stocks dragged the Australian sharemarket sharply lower on Monday in a “punchy session” to kick off the week. The benchmark ASX200 slumped 62.3 points, or 0.
8 per cent, to close at 7733.7 points while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 0.81 per cent, or 64.
8 points, to finish at 7975.1. Tech stocks slipped 0.
1 per cent to finish at 3089.2. The Aussie dollar gained 0.
1 per cent against the Greenback to buy US66.4c at the closing bell. Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
The selloff was broad, with 10 of 11 industry sectors ending in the red, led by energy with a 1.86 per cent fall. Energy stocks were pummelled by a rising US dollar, which acts as a headwind for energy prices.
Oil and gas giant Woodside Energy shed 2 per cent to close at $26.97 a share, while Santos fell 1.57 per cent to $7.
50, Beach Energy declined 1.67 per cent to $1.48 and petroleum refiner and retailer Ampol slid 1.
8 per cent to $32.21. Materials stocks were also hit hard on continued weakness in Asian iron ore prices.
“It’s been a tale of two sectors, mainly, energy and materials,” IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said. “We can point to consumer discretionary, a couple of bombshells going off there, Cettire and City Chic. “But the heavyweight materials sector, it has hit a fresh eight-month low today with falls in the big miners like BHP, Fortescue, Rio, and that’s on the back of some weakness in the iron ore.
