Australia Market tumbles on U.S.-Russia tensions, Fed meeting

The Australian share market finished session steep lower on Tuesday, 25 January 2022, as risk aversion selloff triggered across the board on rising tensions between the United States and Russia over Ukraine, while investors remained cautious ahead of a two-day U.S. Federal Reserve Open Market Committee policy meeting later in the day.

Investors remained wary over a further hawkish move by the Fed as they gauge the timing of potential monetary policy changes. Market participants expect a 25 basis-point rate hike at the Fed policy meeting in March and three more by the year-end.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 stumbled 177.92 points, or 2.49%, to 6,961.63. The broader All Ordinaries index sank 193.42 points, or 2.6%, to 7,248.11.

All 11 sectors ended lower along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index, with energy sector was worst performing issue, down 4.08%, followed by information technology (down 3.23%) and real estate (down 3.05%).

The top performing stocks in this index were CODAN and THE A2 MILK CO, up 16.85% and 7.07% respectively. The bottom performing stocks in this index were LIONTOWN RESOURCES and CHALICE MINING, down 9.93% and 9.77% respectively.

Shares of energy sector declined the most in the benchmark, with Woodside Petroleum and Santos losing 4-5%, as crude oil prices fell around 2% overnight.

Australian tech stocks plunged 3.2% to their lowest close since Sept. 2020. Computershare and Xero lost 3% and 3.6%, respectively.

Shares of U.S.-based buy now, pay later company Sezzle jumped 9.4% after confirming merger talks with larger Australian rival Zip Co.

CURRENCY NEWS: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 95.97, rising sharply from levels around 95.6.The Australian dollar was at $0.7134, dropping from around $0.717.

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