By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 dipped 66.5 points or 1% to 6,953.2 after the first hour of Friday’s trade, extending losses of 1.4% in the previous session and tracking a sharp decline on Wall Street overnight as nervous investors retreated ahead of key U.S. inflation data slated for release later in the session.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.2% lower.
Among stocks, Information Technology lead declines, down 2.2% as Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) lost 7.6%, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) fell 1.8%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) lost 2%, Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK) fell 0.7%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) lost 3.4% and Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) shed 2.8%.
Materials traded 2.6% lower, with Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) down 3.4%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) falling 2.7%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) down 4.7% and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) losing 3.3%.
Financials posted modest gains as Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) added 1.7%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) lifted 1.6%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) added 1.5%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) gained 1.2% while Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) dipped 0.6%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were at fresh 8-year highs of 3.64% while United States 10-Year rates were at 3.047%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 lost 1.2% to 11,075.