By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 fell 51.6 points or 0.8% to 6,634.4 after the first hour of Wednesday’s trade, extending losses for the 4th consecutive session and trading at 15-month lows as bond yields moved higher following hawkish comments from Reserve Bank of Australia policymakers yesterday.
ASX 200 Futures were trading flat at 6,523.5.
Among stocks, Health Care companies declined 2.4% collectively, with CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) down 2%, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (ASX:FPH) falling 4.2%, Resmed Inc (ASX:RMD) dipping 1.8% and Cochlear Ltd (ASX:COH) falling 3.7%.
Information Technology fell 1.8% overall with Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) falling 5.4%, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) down 3.5%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) dipping 7%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) falling 7.7% and Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) down 4.8%.
Energy companies were down 1.1% with Woodside Energy Ltd (ASX:WDS) dipping 1.7%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) falling 0.6%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) down 1.3% and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) falling 0.9%.
Financials were 0.2% lower overall with Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) up 2.4%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) down 0.4%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) up 0.6% and Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) down 0.3%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 8-year highs of 4.087% wile United States 10-Year yields were at 3.456%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 was 0.5% lower at 10,593.5.