By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 fell 66.30 points or 0.92% to 7,139.30 after the first hour of Monday’s trade, extending last week’s declines of 3.3% and falling to fresh 2-month lows as investors continued to rotate out of technology companies as long term bond yields surged.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.2% lower.
Among stocks, Information Technology fell 3% collectively, with Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) shedding 6.4%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) down 5.6%, Altium Ltd (ASX:ALU) falling 2.2% and Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) losing 3.5%.
Real estate companies dipped 2% overall as Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR) fell 1.8%, Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) lost 2.4%, Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) dipped 3.1% and Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX:SGP) lost 0.8%.
Materials also fell 1.1% as Copper and Iron ore prices eased. Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) dipped 1.5%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) lost 0.4%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) fell 2.3%, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) lost 4.4%, Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) shed 7.3% and Avz Minerals Ltd (ASX:AVZ) fell 7.1%.
Financials also lost 1% as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) fell 3.6%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) dipped 3.3%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) lost 1.6% and Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) eased 0.1%. Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) bucked the trend, up 2.2% after reporting an $A3.1 billion cash profit for the first half versus $2.9 billion expected, while lifting its dividend slightly.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 3.545% while United States 10-Year yields were at 3.133%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 shed 0.8% to 11,515.