Australia S&P/ASX 200 falls below the 6,700 level

The Australian share market finished session steep lower on Friday, 26 February 2021, following a global selloff after Wall Street's main indexes tumbled overnight, as a rapid rise in bond yields rattled investor sentiment.At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 tumbled 160.76 points, or 2.36%, to 6,673.27. The broader All Ordinaries tanked 165.05 points, or 2.32%, to 6,940.63.

Investors monitored bond yields during Friday's session. Overnight, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note briefly crossed the 1.6% level to trade at its highest level in more than a year. Yields are rising because investors are optimistic. They believe a strong sustainable recovery is right around the corner and prices will rise as demand comes roaring back. Investor optimism about the economic outlook has risen recently on the back of factors such as positive vaccine developments as multiple major economies inoculate their populations.

 

Every sector traded lower by at least 1% with technology the worst performer, sliding 5%. Afterpay (APT) tumbled 11% having resumed trade from a halt all of yesterday. The buy-now pay-later provider will raise $1.5 billion via its convertible notes offer while also advising that co-CEO's Anthony Eisen and Nicholas Molnar have each sold 450,000 shares at $134.36.

Kogan.com (KGN) was 10% lower even after net profit more than doubled to $23 .6 million while revenue jumped 89% to $414 million. KGN also increased its interim dividend to 16 cents per share.

Harvey Norman (HVN) also saw reported that net profit more than doubled to $462 million on a 25% lift in total aggregated sales of $5.1 billion, as sales for furniture electrical and whitegoods sales remains strong during the pandemic. HVN also raised its dividend to 20 cents per share. HVN shares ended 1% softer.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7834, off levels above $0.792 seen earlier in the week.

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