At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropped 107.06 points, or 1.77%, to 5,953.41. The broader All Ordinaries fell 102.70 points, or 1.64%, to 6,143.18.
Heavyweight financials shed, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corp being the biggest drags. QBE Insurance (QBE) was down 6% on news CEO Pat Regan has been sacked after almost three years in the top role.
The energy stocks also dropped. Santos and Woodside Petroleum fell 3.7% and 2.9%, respectively.
Qantas lost 1.3% after saying it had issued A$500 million of unsecured bonds to help strengthen liquidity and replace maturing debt.
Temple & Webster (TPW) fell 1.8% after CEO Mark Coulter announced the sale of 2.4 million of his shares in the online furniture retailer.
ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia Maintains Key Rate At Record Low, QE Unchanged- Australia's central bank board, governed by Philip Lowe, decided on Tuesday, to maintain its key interest rate at a record low and quantitative easing unchanged but increased the size of the Term Funding Facility. Under the expanded Term Funding Facility, authorized deposit-taking institutions will have access to additional funding, equivalent to 2 percent of their outstanding credit, at a fixed rate of 25 basis points for three years. Today's decision to expand term funding facility would raise the total amount available under the facility to around A$200 billion. The Board said it will maintain highly accommodative settings as long as is required and continues to consider how further monetary measures could support the recovery.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar last changed hands at $0.739 following a rise yesterday from levels around $0.735.
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