Australia Market posts biggest tumble in four months

The Australian share market finished session deep in the red on Thursday, 28 January 2021, sagging as much as A$55 billion in the worst day of trading for the sharemarket since the end of September, as risk aversion selloff triggered across the board on tracking negative lead from Wall Street overnight after the Federal Reserve flagged a potential slowdown in the economic recovery.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 declined 130.87 points, or 1.93%, to 6,649.69. The broader All Ordinaries dropped 142.57 points, or 2.02%, to 6,917.59.

Most sectors and 90% of stocks on the ASX 200 lost ground today. Technology stocks were today's biggest underperformers. Afterpay (APT), Wisetech (WTC) and Xero (XRO) fell by 6%.

Materials and resources shares were also lower. Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group slumped 4% after filing its December 2020 quarterly production report. The iron ore miner said it shipped 46.4mt of ore between October and December (flat on last year). Heavyweights BHP and Rio Tinto fell 1.7% and 2.9%, respectively.

Gold miner Newcrest Mining shed 2.8% as it reported a drop in gold production from the same quarter last year due to lower output from its Cadia and Lihir mines.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia Export Prices Up 5.5% On Quarter In Q4-- Australia export prices were up 5.5% on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2020, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday, following the 5.1% drop in Q3. Import prices sank 1% on quarter after sinking 3.5% in the three months prior. On a yearly basis, export prices were up 0.3% and import prices tumbled 7.3%.

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