PERTH: The Australian sharemarket has extended losses into noon, starting the week on a downbeat note as slowing Chinese manufacturing activity weighs on the market.
At 12.05pm (AEST), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 21.1 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 5678.1, while the broader All Ordinaries index declined 18.4 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 5663.3.
Poor manufacturing data from China, released over the weekend, and unfavourable movements in commodities markets, weighed on resources stocks today.
This was compounded by the release of China’s Caixin manufacturing PMI, the index formerly run by HSBC, which inked a result of 47.8 in July — well below the 50 point mark which separates expansion from contraction.
The result was the lowest point for the read in two years, and a sharp fall from the 49.4 result in June. On Saturday, the government’s official manufacturing purchasing managers index slipped to 50.0 in July from 50.2 in June.
The news also sent Hong Kong and Shanghai’s market into a dive at the open, with both exchanges slipping more than 1 per cent today.
The price of iron ore was also dragging on mining stocks, after falling 3 per cent on Friday, heading back towards the $US50 level.
BHP Billiton lost 1.13 per cent to $26.15, while Rio Tinto gave up 1 per cent to $52.33.
Meanwhile, oil prices were taking a stick to energy stocks, after US crude slipped 2.9 per cent on Friday and Brent backed off by 2.1 per cent.
