Woodside and Santos shed 8% as ASX holds heavy losses
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More news: The Australian sharemarket held early heavy losses into afternoon trading as bearish sentiment triggered by fresh US tariffs on Thursday rippled through global markets.
The ASX 200 was down 2.02% to 7,701.2 at 2pm AEDT.
The energy sector had plunged 7% as crude prices dropped. Oil giants Woodside Energy and Santos both saw 8% wiped off their market value, while rivals Karoon Energy (-11.3%), Beach Energy (-7.5%) and Ampol (-4.3%) also sank.
Tech stocks (-5.2%) tracked a selloff on the Nasdaq overnight, with Technology One (-8.1%), Life360 (-7.6%), NextDC (-7.3%) and WiseTech Global (-6.6%) all tanking.
Energy generator Origin Energy (-6.8%) weighed on the utilities sector (-4.1%), while Goodman Group (-4.7%) dragged down real estate (-2.1%).
Staples (1.7%) was the only sector in the green as supermarket giants Woolworths (3.2%) and Coles (2.9%) both advanced.
Australian shares sink 2% at open as tariff concerns grow
The news: The Australian sharemarket has opened sharply lower, with stocks extending losses for a second straight session over fears of the economic fallout from US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs.
The numbers: The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 155.10 points or 1.97% to 7,704.60 within the first few minutes of trade, with each of the 11 sectoral indices trading lower.
The context: Energy, mining, consumer and financial stocks were the worst affected. BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group were all down more than 2.5% each, while Woodside and Santos slumped nearly 7% each, tracking a similar slide in global oil prices. Each of the Big Four banks were trading between 1% and 2% lower, while consumer-focused stocks such as Breville Group and Light and Wonder sustained losses of 10% and 8% respectively.
The local slump comes after Wall Street main benchmarks ended with the largest one-day percentage losses in years as the US tariffs ignited fears of an all-out trade war and a global economic recession, with investors fleeing from risky assets. It followed Trump unveiling a 10% minimum tariff on most goods imported to the US, with much higher duties on products from dozens of countries.
The source: ASX
