Australia Market falls on China power concerns

The Australian shares tumbled on Tuesday, 28 September 2021, dragging the benchmark S&P/ASX200 and All Ordinaries indexes deeply below neutral line, as investors moved to lock in recent gains after official data showed retail sales fell for a third straight month in August. Meanwhile, selloff was also fuelled on concerns about the potential impact of a widening power shortage in China.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 stumbled by 108.62 points, or 1.47%, to 7,275.55. The broader All Ordinaries index retreated 109.68 points, or 1.43%, to 7,581.06.

Total 9 of 11 sectors ended LOWER along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index. Healthcare was the bottom performing sector, losing 3.56%, meanwhile information technology (down 2.85%), real estate (down 2.4%) and materials (down 2.3%) sectors were also notable losers. Energy was top performing sector, adding 4.3%.

 

The bottom performing stocks in this index were PRO MEDICUS and EVOLUTION MINING, down 6.73% and 6.44% respectively. The top performing stocks in this index were BEACH ENERGY and OIL SEARCH, up 10.5% and 7.1% respectively.

Shares of materials and resources tumbled as iron ore and base metal prices slipped on worries about demand after Australia's top trading partner China is in the grip of a power crunch, which has halted production at several factories. BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals, skidded between 2.3% and 5.6%.

Technology stocks fell on tracking decline of Wall Street's peers. Service firm Xero fell 6.4%, while data centre operator NEXTDC lost 4.8%.

Energy shares continued to benefit from a rally in oil prices caused by supply shortages. Crude oil prices extended their rally into a sixth session on Tuesday amid continued concerns over tight supply. Beach Energy soared 10.5%, a day after it signed a deal to sell liquefied natural gas to BP. Oil Search fell 7.1%.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia Retail Sales Drop 1.7% On Month In August- Australia retail sales dropped 1.7% on a monthly basis in August, but slower than the 2.7% decline posted in July, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday. This was the third consecutive fall in retail sales. On a yearly basis, retail sales were down 0.7%, following a 3.1% decrease in July.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7263, off an earlier high of $0.7311.

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