PERTH: The Australian sharemarket is weaker this afternoon, despite paring heavier earlier losses, following a string of soft sessions across global bourses.
At 12.05pm, the benchmark ASX 200 index had dipped 31.9 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 5008.7, while the broader All Ordinaries lost 30.9 points, also 0.6 per cent, to 5029.9.
Official non-farm payroll figures — the key US employment metric — released on Friday showed 173,000 jobs added last month, below expectations for a 220,000 increase.
However, upwardly revised figures for June and July helped the unemployment rate drop to 5.1 per cent, better than the forecast 5.2 per cent.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.7 per cent and the S&P 500 gave up 1.5 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index surrendered 1.1 per cent.
In Europe, France’s CAC 40 tumbled 2.8 per cent, Germany’s DAX 30 gave back 2.7 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 retreated 2.4 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar dropped as low as US69.09c this morning, its weakest level since April 2009.
“The definitive break below 70c may see further selling by international investors concerned that further steep falls in the currency could erode the valuation of their Australian investments,” CMC Markets analyst Ric Spooner said.
