Australia Stocks falls 1.8%

Australia stock market finished session steep lower on Friday, 24 May 2024, on tracking broadly downbeat cues from Wall Street overnight amid conscious of inflation pressure and receding expectations/ for rate cuts.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 84.21 points, or 1.08%, to 7,727.59. The broader All Ordinaries index declined 83.93 points, or 1.04%, to 7,999.16.

All 11 major sectors lost ground, with consumer discretionary stocks (down 2.5%) the worst affected. Meanwhile A-REIT, information technology, financial, and consumer staple sectors were also notable losers.

The top performing stocks in S&P/ASX200 index were NRW HOLDINGS and CHALLENGER, up 2.86% and 2.79% respectively. The bottom performing stocks in S&P/ASX200 index were FLETCHER BUILDING and EMERALD RESOURCES NL, down 6.10% and 4.49% respectively.

 

Shares of bank and financials and consumer goods companies dropped as profit takers stepped in. Commonwealth Bank lost 2% and NAB was down 1.5%. Retail conglomerate Wesfarmers lost 3.8%.

Shares of tech sector also fell, led by Xero which fell 2.7% and NextDC lost 2.2%. WiseTech finished down 1.4% to $98.67.

The consumer sectors were also weaker. The supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles both lost more than 1%, respectively.

Energy sector declined marginally in the red. Woodside (up 0.6%), Yancoal (up 0.3%) and Santos (up 0.1%) kept the energy sector afloat amid a broad market sell-off.

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