Australian shares drop after Wall sell-off
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More news: The Australian sharemarket has opened lower, tracking sharp losses on Wall Street after Treasury bond yields spiked on growing concerns about the US government deficit.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 47 points or 0.56% to 8,339.80 after the first half hour of trade, with losses in the heavyweight financials and energy sectors, as well as in technology and real estate shares.
Three of the Big Four banks were trading lower, with only ANZ in the green. Top miners BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue were all trading more than 0.55 lower, while energy majors Woodside and Santos were both down around 1% each.
The local losses follow a sharp decline on Wall Street overnight amid worries that the US government deficit would swell by trillions of dollars if Congress passes President Donald Trump's proposed tax-cut bill and soft demand for a tranche of 20-year US Treasury bonds.
Australian shares to drop after Wall Street sell-off
The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open lower, tracking sharp losses on Wall Street after Treasury bond yields spiked on worries that the US government deficit would swell by trillions of dollars if Congress passes President Donald Trump's proposed tax-cut bill.
The numbers: Updated at 7.25am AEDT:
- ASX futures: down 82 points or 0.98% at 8,326 points
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 1.91%, S&P 500 down 1.61%, Nasdaq down 1.41%
- Europe: FTSE 100 up 0.06%, CAC 40 down 0.40%, DAX up 0.36%
- Spot gold: up 0.01% at USD3,314.96 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent down 0.96% to USD64.75/bbl, US WTI down 0.74% to USD61.57/bbl
- AUD: down 0.03% at 64.35 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 1.24% to USD108,121.30.
The context: All three major US stock indices closed with their biggest daily losses in a month, with analysts worried the Republican bill could add between USD3 trillion ($4.7 trillion) and USD5 trillion to the federal government's $36.2 trillion debt. Earlier, yields rose after soft demand for the Treasury Department's USD16 billion sale of 20-year bonds, with the yield on benchmark US 10-year notes jumping 10.8 basis points to 4.59%. Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors fell, with Nvidia, Apple and Tesla among the key losers.
What to watch: Reserve Bank deputy governor Andrew Hauser will speak at the Lowy Institute; earnings from Australian Agricultural Company, Karoon Energy, Ventia Services among others.
