At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 stumbled 133.54 points, or 1.81%, to 7,235.31. The broader All Ordinaries retreated 139.11 points, or 1.82%, to 7,485.19.
Total 7 of 11 sectors ended lower along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index. Information Technology was the best performing sector, gaining 6.3%, followed by healthcare (up 3.6%) and consumer discretionary (up 2.8%) sectors. Material was worst performing sector, falling 5.9%, followed energy (down 4.1%), utilities (down 2%), and financial (down 1.4%) sectors.
The best performing stocks in the S&P/ASX200 were Afterpay (up 2.5%), Megaport (up 2.3%), Altium (up 2.1%), Metcash (up 2%), and Ramsay healthcare (up 1.5%), while the worst performing stocks were Codan (down 11.8%), Chalice Mining (down 7.8%), NRW Holdings (down 7%), AMP (down 6%), and GUD Holdings (down 5.9%).
Materials and resources were lower, with Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group down around 2.7% each as copper and iron ore prices retreated.
Energy stocks such as Woodside Petroleum, Santos, Origin Energy and Oil Search dropped 1-3%. Boral gained 1.3% on news the company would sell its North American building products business for $2.15 billion.
Shares of banks and financials were also lower, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia falling 5% after announcing the long-anticipated sale of its Australian general insurance business for about A$625 million.
ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia total value of retail sales was up a seasonally adjusted 0.1% on month in May, coming in at A$31.069 billion, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Monday, following the 1.1% increase in April. On a yearly basis, retail trade was up 7.4% after surging 25.0% in April.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar fell to its lowest since The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.749, still struggling to recover after its fall last week from above $0.768.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
