Australia Market closes down on COVID-19 restrictions woes

The Australian share market finished session lower on Tuesday, 28 July 2020, as risk aversion selloff triggered on concerns of a stricter lockdown after a rise in coronavirus cases. At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 23.62 points, or 0.39%, to 6,020.55. The broader All Ordinaries dropped 22.79 points, or 0.37%, to 6,146.80.

The local market opened higher and reached 6113 points before lunch, but was dragged down in the afternoon by news from Westpac, the spread of coronavirus in Victoria, and a sharp drop in the gold price.

Early on Tuesday Westpac revealed more breaches of anti-money laundering regulations and announced a new chief financial officer. The stock closed 1.5% lower at $17.46, a four-week low. Perpetual dropped 5% to $31.91 after a trading halt in which it announced a $465 million purchase of a US fund manager.

The state of Victoria reported six deaths and 384 new cases in the last 24 hours, a day after posting a record surge in cases that prompted authorities to warn of an extension to the six-week lockdown already in place.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar was at $0.7134 after touching an earlier high of $0.7176.

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