Inflation panic erases 3 weeks worth of gains: Aus shares trading 1.9% lower

21/06/2021 12:00:00

The Australian sharemarket plunged at the open and descended below the 7300 mark during morning session, following pessimistic leads from Wall Street overnight.

Wall Street’s inflation panic transcended across the Pacific to Australian investors, in anticipation of earlier-than-expected interest rate hikes by the US central bank.

Financials, Energy and Industrials were the market’s biggest contributors of downward pressure, as the market erased three weeks worth of gains.

Red was the dominant colour among the big lenders, as all of the big four banks copped declines.

The tech sector was stemming the tide of the broader sell-off, as Altium (ASX:ALU) and Afterpay (ASX:APT) were tracking 0.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent higher at noon.

Economic News

Australia’s retail sector recorded an increase of 0.1 per cent in revenue for May 2021, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

At noon, the S&P/ASX 200 is 1.92 per cent or 141.60 points lower at 7227.30.

The SPI futures are pointing to a fall of 143 points.

Best and worst performers

All sectors are in the red. The sector with the fewest losses is Real Estate Investment Trusts, down 0.20 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Financials, down 3.36 per cent.

The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Megaport (ASX:MP1), trading 2.44 per cent higher at $18.03. It is followed by shares in Charter Hall Retail REIT (ASX:CQR) and Ramsay Health Care (ASX:RHC).

The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Codan (ASX:CDA), trading 12.83 per cent lower at $16.85. It is followed by shares in NRW Holdings (ASX:NWH) and GUD Holdings (ASX:GUD).

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1772.44 an ounce.
Iron ore is -0.9 per cent higher at US$218.90 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a fall of 4.0 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 75.05 US cents.