By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The ASX 200 fell 58.3 points or 0.83% to 6980.3 during Tuesday’s deals, extending declines of 1% in the previous session with commodity prices surging across the board as cautious investors monitored tightening economic sanctions on Russia.
The Energy sector was down 3.57%, partially retracing gains of 5.11% in the previous session as Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) lost 4.16%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) fell 3.79%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) shed 3.95% and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) dipped 4.15%.
Materials fell sharply, down 3.28% as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) shed 4.34%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) lost 3.67%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) fell 4.5%, Avz Minerals Ltd (ASX:AVZ) shed 7.47%, Arizona Lithium Ltd (ASX:AZL) lost 7.41%, and Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) dipped 3.71%.
Financials ticked 0.04% higher as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) added 0.22%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) fell 0.72%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) added 0.18%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) dipped 0.46% and Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) gained 1%.
Among commodities, WTI Crude Oil was trading 2.96% higher at $122.89, Gold was up 0.22%, Nickel spiked 67.22% to fresh records, copper surged 3.37%, Newcastle Coal lifted 0.69% and Palladium gained 4.02%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 2.227% while United States 10-Year yields were at 1.765%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 was down 1.41% to 11,745.