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ASX 200 plummets 1.3% to 6-month lows

EditorOliver Gray
Published 03/10/2023, 04:53 pm
© Reuters.
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Investing.com - The Australian share market fell below the 7,000 mark on Tuesday, hitting its lowest level in over six months. The drop follows an overnight rout in US Treasuries and disregards the Reserve Bank's anticipated decision to maintain the cash rate at 4.1%.

More hawkish signals from the US Federal Reserve sparked a widespread sell-off, pushing the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index down by 1.3%, or 89.8 points, to 6943.4 at the close. This marks the lowest level since March 21.

Ten of the 11 industry groups ended in the red, with energy and mining sectors both declining by over 2%. The All Ordinaries index also fell, dropping 94.5 points to 7141.

Overnight, yields on US Treasuries ranging from five to 30 years rose by 10 basis points. This surge pushed the rate on the 10-year benchmark to 4.7%, its highest since 2007. The 30-year yield topped 4.81%, the highest since 2010.

Fed officials, including Michelle Bowman, reiterated calls for multiple rate increases. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) noted that traders had increased their bets on a November 1 rate rise in the US to roughly a one-in-three chance, up from 25% on Friday.

The Australian dollar continued its overnight sell-off, trading at its lowest in 11 months at US61.4¢, despite the central bank's mild bias to increase rates again, citing inflation as "still too high."

Major miners, including BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP), Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO), and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG), all experienced declines as iron ore prices fell. Energy stocks also performed poorly, with Woodside Energy Ltd (ASX:WDS), Santos Ltd (ASX:STO), and Ampol Ltd (ASX:ALD) all posting losses as West Texas Intermediate traded near $US88 a barrel.

In other news, Computershare Ltd. (ASX:CPU) remained little changed at $25.82, after the company announced its plan to sell its US mortgage services business to New York Stock Exchange-listed asset manager Rithm Capital Corp (NYSE:RITM) for $US720 million ($1.13 billion).

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