SYDNEY, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The Australian share market closed sharply lower on Monday, with broad-based loses across the index.
At the close of trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 69.00 points or 1.11 percent at 6,126.20, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 72.20 points or 1.15 percent at 6,208.70.
"This was the second biggest tumble for our market in 2019 and it comes courtesy of global markets which didn't do so well on Friday," Commmsec market analyst Steven Daghlian told investors in an afternoon market report.
"This was sparked by fears of a global growth slowdown after a number of economic indicators were quite disappointing."
"(Today) 75 percent of companies on the market found themselves in negative territory."
In the financial space, Australia's big banks weakened with the Commonwealth Bank down (0.91 percent), Westpac Bank down (1.47 percent), National Australia Bank down (0.88 percent) and ANZ down (2.26 percent).
Mining stocks also came under heavy pressure with BHP down (1.28 percent), Rio Tinto down (1.10 percent), Fortescue Metals down (1.21 percent). However, gold miner Newcrest shot up (3.19 percent).
After a drop in crude prices, the country's oil and gas producers were thrashed with Woodside Petroleum down (2.82 percent), Santos down (3.76 percent) and Oil Search down (3.27 percent).
Australia's largest supermarket chains saw mixed results with Wesfarmers up (0.66 percent) and Woolworths down (0.36 percent).
While telecommunications giant Telstra improved (0.61 percent), the national carrier Qantas sank (0.92 percent) and biomedical firm CSL dived (0.96 percent).
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