Australia: Market falls on EU-China Tensions

The Australian market finished session lower on Tuesday, 23 March 2021, after reversing earlier gains, on tracking lacklustre decline in Chinese markets amid escalation of EU-China Tensions. Meanwhile, the volatility of U.S. bond yields and planned lockdown in Germany amid a resurgence of virus cases also dampened risk appetite.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 dropped 7.06 points, or 0.1%, to 6,745.40. The broader All Ordinaries shed 8.41 points, or 0.12%, to 6,986.60.

Australian shares opened higher, as the benchmark index tracked an overnight rally on Wall Street. However, the Australian shares gave up early gains to end slight lower as investors fretted over the volatility of U.S. bond yields and steep declines in Chinese stocks on western sanctions, policy tightening and valuation worries.

Chancellor Angela Merkel put Germany into hard lockdown over Easter to try to defuse another wave of infections. The move come amid signs that progress against the pandemic is stalling as global deaths and cases creep higher.

Turmoil in Turkish assets continued in the wake of the central bank chief's surprise dismissal over the weekend, with a drop in the main stock index triggering a circuit breaker.

Meanwhile, escalation of EU-China Tensions also weighed down sentiments. A coalition of western nations (The United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada) announced sanctions on Chinese officials for alleged human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims. China immediately announced retaliatory sanctions against the EU that appeared broader, including European lawmakers, diplomats, institutes and families, and banning their businesses from trading with China.

Energy, consumer discretionary and IT fell most today, down 1.04%, 0.73% and 0.85% respectively. Telecom gained 1.03%, utilities increased 0.81% and health care rallied 0.72%.

Airtasker made its ASX debut, with the share price lifting 53% after its first three hours of trade. Crown was down 1% to A$11.85 following reports Blackstone's offer to buy the casino operator was too low.

In economic news, consumer sentiment, as measured by Roy Morgan and ANZ, eased 0.5% last week, the second fall in the past four months.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7692, still off levels above $0.78 seen last week.

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