Australia Stocks tumbles on global slowdown woes

Headline indices of the Australian financial market tumbled on Friday, 04 January 2019, as risk aversion selloff triggered on tracking negative lead from Wall Street overnight, and anxiety about global growth after poor data from China and Europe earlier this week. Most of ASX sectors declined, with shares in information technology, healthcare, industrial, materials, and financials being notable losers. In late afternoon trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 33.10 points, or 0.6%, to 5,600.30 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index shed 36 points, or 0.6%, to 5,658.60 points.

Shares of financials were lower, with so-called Big Four banks led losses. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group was down by 1.4% and Commonwealth Bank of Australia slipped 0.7%. Westpac declined by 0.5% and National Australia Bank shed more than 1%.

Shares of energy stocks were down despite a more than 1% increase in crude oil prices. Santos fell 2%, Oil Search was down by almost 1% and Woodside Petroleum fell 0.5%.

Shares of materials sector extended losses, with BHP falling 1.8% and Rio Tinto down 2.1% after copper prices dropped to an 18-month low overnight. Bluescope Steel fell 3.5%.

Healthcare stocks were lower, with ResMed's down 4.5% and CSL down 2%, with Cochlear and Ramsay were also down. Healius, formerly Primary Healthcare, continued to climb, up 4.4% following Thursday's takeover offer from Jangho Hong Kong.

CURRENCY: Australian Dollar was tad higher against greenback and against a basket of other peers on Friday. The Australian dollar was quoted at $0.7010, up from $0.6942 on Thursday.

OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS: US share market closed steep lower on Thursday, due to weaker than expected US manufacturing data and downwardly revised guidance from Apple. The rare warning of disappointing results from Apple sent a shudder through the market and reinforced fears among investors that the world's second-largest economy is weakening. A weak report Thursday on U.S. manufacturing also weighed on the market. The Institute for Supply Management said its index of manufacturing fell to its lowest level in two years, and new orders have fallen sharply since November. Manufacturing is still growing, but at a slower pace than it has recently. Growing signs of a slowdown in China weighed on the market, as did the U.S.-China trade dispute, which threatens to snarl multinational companies' supply lines and reduce demand for their products. Investors were also unsettled by a report Thursday that showed signs of weakness in U.S. manufacturing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 660.02 points or 2.8% to 22,686.22, the Nasdaq plunged 202.43 points or 3% to 6,463.50 and the S&P 500 slumped 62.14 points or 2.5% to 2,447.89.

Crude oil prices edged higher. U.S. crude rose 0.6% to $46.84 a barrel in New York and Brent crude rose 0.7% to $55.33 a barrel in London. Oil prices have nosedived almost 40% since early October, and investors' fears about falling demand in China and elsewhere were a key reason for the decline.

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