By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 fell 125 points or 1.8% to 7,057.8 after Thursday’s first hour of trade, snapping four sessions of consecutive advance as investors tracked significant declines among U.S. equities overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 posting their largest daily losses in nearly two years.
ASX 200 Futures were trading flat at 7,055.5.
Among stocks, Information Technology was among the hardest hit with Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) down 2.9%, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) losing 1.5%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) down 4.4%, Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK) falling 1.8%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) own 6.1% and Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) falling 3.8%.
Materials also suffered with Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) down 2.6%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) falling 2.2%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) losing 1.6%, Arizona Lithium Ltd (ASX:AZL) down 6.3% and Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) falling 5.3%.
Energy companies lost ground as Oil prices fell overnight. Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) dipped 2.5%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) lost 1.1% and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) fell 5.3%.
Consumer Staples fell 3.6% collectively with Woolworths Ltd (ASX:WOW) retreating 4.6%, Graincorp Ltd (ASX:GNC) down 3.6%, Coles Group Ltd (ASX:COL) falling 3.5% and Metcash Ltd (ASX:MTS) dipping 4.6%.
Financials retreated 1.6% overall as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) lost 2%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) dipped 1.4%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) fell 1.4%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) lost 4% and Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) dipped 1.3%.
Ahead in the session, market participants will be looking towards fresh employment data, with the employment change expected to rise to 30K from 17.9K while the unemployment rate is expected to ease to 3.9% versus 4.0% in the previous month.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were at 3.354% while United States 10-Year rates were at 2.889%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell 1.6% to 11,085.