By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 fell 26.7 points or 0.4% to 7,003.1 after the first hour of Wednesday’s trade, declining for the first day in three amid a broad based sell-off led by major technology companies.
ASX 200 Futures were trading just 0.1% higher.
Among stocks, Information Technology shed 4% collectively, as Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) fell 6.1%, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) shed 4%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) lost 3.2%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) dropped 4.9% and Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) declined 3.9%.
Consumer Discretionary fell 1.3% overall as Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX:DMP) down 0.3%, Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) down 0.8%, JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX:JBH) falling 0.3%, Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (ASX:ALL) easing 0.1% and Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX:WES) down 1.2%.
A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) tanked 8.8% after a key US regulator blocked the company’s hopes of entering the United States baby formula market amid a continued shortage crisis.
Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) shares dropped 0.8% after announcing a 9% increase in profits and falling margins. The bank posted a statutory net profit of $9.7 billion and is set to pay a final dividend of $2.10, fully franked. CBA also noted that while most of its customers are well placed to afford rising interest rates, 37% of customers are less than a month ahead on repayments.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 3.226% while United States 10-Year yields were at 2.792%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dipped 0.4% to 11,712.3.