Australia Stocks extend losses to fifth day

The Australian share market tumbled for fifth straight session on Thursday, 27 February 2020, as investors fled riskier assets on fears about global spread of China's coronavirus and seeking safety in gold and bonds. All sectors aside from healthcare and utilities finished in the red, lead by steep declines in financial, technology, and energy shares.At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index declined 50.20 points, or 0.75%, to 6,657.90, while the broader All Ordinaries stumbled 53.34 points, or 0.79%, to 6,737.40. The benchmark has tumbled 6.7% this week through Thursday's close, wiping out about A$152 billion in companies' market value.

The falls in Australian came as intense fears about a slowdown in global growth caused by the rapid global spread of deadly coronavirus and to disrupt global trade competed with bargain-hunting impulses. Most new virus cases are now being reported outside China - the origin of the outbreak - with South Korea, Italy, Japan, and Iran emerging as new epicentres. Brazil reported its first infection overnight and US health authorities have said a global pandemic is likely.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday became one of the world's first leaders to acknowledge the threat of the virus spreading beyond global containment efforts. "We believe the risk of a global pandemic is very much upon us," Morrison told a news conference in Canberra. Australia has reported 23 cases of coronavirus, although 15 - all of whom arrived from China - have now been discharged from hospital.

The heavyweight financial stocks weighed on the benchmark. Shares of the "Big Four" banks declined between 1.4% and 2.1%, with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group falling the most.

Energy stocks declined 2%, as oil prices plunged to their lowest since January 2019. Shares of Worley Ltd dropped 2.8%, while those of Oil Search fell 2.9%.

Ramsay Healthcare (RHS) fell by 1.5% after posting a decline in first half earnings. Link (LNK) slumped by 13.5% on its earnings and Air New Zealand (AIZ) fell by 1.7% after warning of lower profits ahead. AIZ expects the coronavirus to reduce its earnings by $35-$75m. It recently suspended flights to Shanghai and Seoul and has reduced capacity to Hong Kong and Japan.

A2 Milk (A2M) rose by 5% after handing down a 21% lift in half year profit to NZ$184.9m. Sales of a2 infant formula doubled in China, with some distributors bringing forward orders ahead of the Chinese New Year. A2M said sales have been quite strong in China over the past two months despite the coronavirus outbreak.

CURRENCY & COMMODITY NEWS: The Australian dollar slid against greenback, amid growing concerns about the spread of the pneumonia-causing virus. The Australian dollar was at $0.6555 after declining from levels around $0.66 yesterday.

US crude made a fresh one-year low of $48.17 per barrel in Asian trade, while gold rose 0.3% to $1,644.30 per ounce.

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