By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 fell 127.3 points or 1.9% to 6,447.4 after the first hour of Monday’s trade, extending declines of 2.5% in the previous week and trading at fresh 3-month lows as the U.S. Federal Reserve’s 75 basis point rate increase last week caused investors to retreat from riskier assets, while bond yields continued to surge.
ASX 200 Futures were trading 0.5% lower.
Among stocks, Materials led declines, down 4.4% as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) shed 4.3%, BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP) lost 3.8%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) fell 4.4% and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) dipped 6.8%.
Utilities lost 2.6% as Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) fell 3.2%, AGL Energy Ltd (ASX:AGL) lost 2.7% and Mercury NZ Ltd (ASX:MCY) shed 3.7%.
Financials declined 1.5% with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) down 1.3%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) falling 1.1%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) down 0.9% and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) dipping 1.4%.
Ahead in the week, investors will be looking towards the release of August’s retail sales data.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year bond yields were at 3-month highs of 3.961% while United States 10-Year yields were at 3.733%, the highest levels since April 2010.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 will remain closed for a public holiday.