The Australian sharemarket shed 3% Tuesday morning following weak leads from Wall Street and Europe overnight. Commodity stocks fell significantly, while financials were also heavily sold.
At lunch the All Ords fell 107.7 to 3,803.1, while the ASX/200 was down 110.5 to 3,807.7. Over 1.1 billion shares, or $2.2 billion had changed hands.
Materials and Resources were entrenched in the red after a fall in metal prices overnight, with the sector sinking 4.2% by noon. Heavyweights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto dropped 4% and 4.1% respectively.
Fortescue and Sims Group fell 6.6% and 1.6%, while gold miners Lihir and Newcrest slid 3.8% and 4.5%.
OZ Minerals slumped 4.8%.
Steelmakers Bluescope and Onesteel shed 6.5% and 5.2%.
Energy stocks did not fair much better, with the sector down 3.6% after the price of crude fellow below US$70 a barrel. Woodside and Origin lost 2.6% and 2.1%, while Oil Search and Santos weakened 3.6% and 4.3%.
Aquila Resources shed 7.3% after announcing a potential agreement with Fortescue to share port facilities in the Pilbara.
Paladin and Felix sank 7.9% and 3.4%. WorleyParsons slumped 7.2%.
While not as dramatically as their peers on Wall Street, the Banks and Financials still managed to dip 2.8% lower. Of the big four, ANZ and Westpac dropped 3.2% and 3.8%, while NAB and CBA declined 2.8% and 2.6%.
Investment bank Macquarie Group was 4.1% cheaper. Suncorp and QBE fell the most of the insurers, down 2.9% and 3.1%.
A 2.6% slide from sector heavyweight Westfield saw Property Trusts down 2.2%. Dexus, Mirvac and Lend Lease shed 2%, 3.7% and 2.6% respectively.
GPT dipped 2.1%, while Stockland was flat.
It was a mixed morning for Consumer Staples, though 0.9% and 1.6% falls from heavyweights Woolworths and Wesfarmers resulted in the sector declining 0.9%.
Metcash edged 0.2% higher, while ABB Grain put on 0.6%.
Coca-Cola Amatil added 1%, while brewers Lion Nathan and Fosters were flat.
Goodman Fielder and AWB shed 3.3% and 3.4%.
Consumer Discretionary slid 2%. Gamers Crown, Tabcorp and Aristocrat fell 3.2%, 1.5% and 1.7% respectively.
Media stocks Newscorp and Fairfax weakened 3.8% and 1.6%, while David Jones set the low-water mark for retailers, down 4.8%.
Advances in some of the smaller capped stocks failed to push the Industrials above the line. The sector lost 2.4% as Leightons, Brambles and CSR fell 4.3%, 1.4% and 2.2%.
Transport companies Qantas and Toll Holdings dropped 4.7% and 1.4%, while Auckland International Airport gained 2.4%.
Seek sank 4.1%.
Telstra fell 1.2%, with the broader Telecommunications sector down 0.8%.
Healthcare weakened 1.3%. CSR lost 1.8%, while Ansell dropped 4.1%.
The Utilities and Information Technology sectors slid 1.6% and 1.3% respectively.
Around the region, the Nikkei 225 lost 278.7 to be at 9,547.6, the Straits Times Index shed 50.9 to 2,216.0 and NZSE50 fell 33.1 to 2,761.8.
Spot gold was trading at US$920.60 per ounce and the Aussie was buying US$0.7841.
Aquila and Fortescue sign agreement
Aquila Resources announced that the manager of its 50% owned West Pilbara Iron Ore Project, API Management Pty Ltd, has signed a cooperation agreement with Fortescue Metals Group. The agreement is to investigate the potential for shared development of port facilities at Anketell Point.
At lunch, Aquila shares were down 41c to
$5.22, while Fortescue shares were down 29c to
$3.78.
Chinese government approves Gindalbie share placement
Gindalbie Metals Limited (GBG) said the Chinese Government has given its formal approval for the company’s previously announced $162 million share placement to its joint venture partner, Chinese steel company Ansteel. This was the final remaining condition required for Gindalbie to complete the allotment of over 190 million shares to Angang Group Hong Kong Limited or its nominee at a price of $0.85 per share.
At lunch, Gindalbie shares were down 4c to
76.5c.
