By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 finished Monday’s session lower, down 36.30 points or 0.51% to 7,139.50, extending last week’s declines of 2.9% and trading at 7-month lows as investors remained cautious amid fears of surging inflation and an aggressive policy tightening forecast at the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Among stocks, Technology companies saw the largest selloff, down 1.73% as Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) dropped 6.68% and Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) lost 5.7%, while Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) fell 2.38%, Computershare Ltd. (ASX:CPU) lost 2.38% and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) dragged 2.37%.
BNPL names declined as Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) lost 1.5% and Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) dipped 2.18%
Materials also fell as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) dipped 0.7%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) eased 0.22%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) shed 2.01%, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) lost 2.53%, Arizona Lithium Ltd (ASX:AZL) fell 3.03%, Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) dropped 5.32%, Avz Minerals Ltd (ASX:AVZ) fell 2.01%, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) shed 4.65% and Magnis Resources Ltd (ASX:MNS) lost 6.25%.
Airline stocks suffered losses as Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:QAN) lost 1.43%, Flight Centre Ltd (ASX:FLT) dipped 1.49%, Webjet Ltd (ASX:WEB) lost 2.95% and Sydney Airport Holdings Ltd (ASX:SYD) eased 0.12%.
South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) dropped 3.67% after a quarterly update revealed declines in coal, aluminium, manganese, silver, and lead production.
Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL) fell 14% after slashing production guidance due to an 800 tonne rockfall in its Rosemount main pit in Western Australia’s Goldfields region.
Financials were also lower as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) eased 0.35%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) lost 1.21%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) fell 0.53%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) lost 0.86%, while Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) added 0.07%.
Real estate stocks proved to be a bright spot, as Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) added 1.2%, Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) gained 3.54%, Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX:SGP) added 0.5% and Lend Lease Group (ASX:LLC) lifted 1.87%.
Wireless broadband provider Uniti Group Inc (NASDAQ:UNIT) also popped 9.28% after revealing that the company has received multiple take-over offers in recent months.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were higher at 1.924%, while United States 10-Year rates were at 1.776%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dropped 1.47% to 12,166, trading 11% below its last record high set in January 2021.