Australia Shares End Sharply Lower on Growth Concerns
September 21 2015 - 3:11AM
Dow Jones News
By Robb M. Stewart
MELBOURNE, Australia--Australian shares fell sharply Monday,
erasing last week's gains, as investors worried about the pace of
global growth in the wake of last week's U.S. Federal Reserve
decision to leave interest rates unchanged.
It was the sharpest one-day fall for the market in more than a
week, snapping advances in each of the last three sessions, as most
markets across the region faltered.
The S&P/ASX 200 lost 104.3 points, or 2%, to end at
5066.2.
"The Australian market traded lower from the get-go," Tony Kwok,
a sales trader at CMC Markets in Sydney, said. "The commentary from
the Federal Reserve last week has truly shaken investors' outlook
on the economic health of the world economy."
Mining and energy shares were caught up in the global-growth
worries, at a time when several of Australia's biggest commodity
exports have excess supplies. Banking stocks were also down steeply
in a broad selloff, as threats to the local economy, including the
property market, appeared to weigh on the minds of investors, said
Angus Nicholson, a market analyst at IG in Melbourne.
"With the outlook for financials, materials and the energy
sectors all fairly negative over the next few months, we are
unlikely to see the ASX returning to its April-May highs just below
the 6000 mark, and indeed a significant break below 5000 could well
be in the offing," Mr. Nicholson said.
Among energy shares, Woodside Petroleum was down 2.9% and Papua
New Guinea-focused takeover target Oil Search was 0.1% lower, while
Origin Energy was 3.8% weaker and AWE lost 2.8%.
Mining heavy weights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were down 2.5%
and 2.9%, respectively, while Fortescue Metals Group lost 4.1% and
OZ Minerals declined 2.8%.
Shares in the major banks were each lower, with National
Australia Bank off 1.9%, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group
down 2.4%, Westpac Banking down 2.8% weaker and Commonwealth Bank
of Australia down 2.9%.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 21, 2015 02:56 ET (06:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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