PERTH: The Australian sharemarket has tumbled to a three-month low, posting its steepest one-day decline for two years after investors savaged financial stocks.
At the 4.15pm official market close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had lost 134.3 points, or 2.3 per cent, to 5692.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 125.3 points, or 2.15 per cent, at 5690.9.
Weakness in the financial sector, prompted by the Commonwealth Bank’s soft quarterly results, sent the sharemarket reeling today.
The market recorded its worst single day fall since February 2013, while the Commonwealth Bank posted its biggest plunge since the global financial crisis.
CommSec market analyst Steve Daghlian said there’d only been four days this calendar year when the bourse had declined by more than 1.5 per cent.
“The major banks are accounting for around half of the losses on the boarder market — without the banks, the index would be down by only around 1 per cent,” Mr Daghlian said.
