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ASX Closes Lower as Miners Fall, While NAB and Westpac Gain
ASX ends lower as miners fall, while NAB and Westpac gain on Friday.
Key points
- The S&P/ASX 200 closed down 44.3 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 9020.8 after tumbling as much as 1.5 per cent early.
- Banks, supermarket giants and Telstra rallied, helping cushion the index as investors sought defensive sectors.
- The S&P 500 fell 4.4 per cent and the Nasdaq 6.4 per cent on Wall Street, erasing a record US$2.3 trillion ($3.3 trillion).
Why it matters. Investors feared heavier regulation of the artificial intelligence build-out after the Democrats made a clean sweep of Congress, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunged 12 per cent.
The Australian sharemarket finished in the red on Friday, with the S&P/ASX 200 down 44.3 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 9020.8 after falling as much as 1.5 per cent early in trade. Banks, supermarket giants and Telstra rallied to cushion the index as investors sought the safety of more defensive sectors. The drop followed a Wall Street rout in which the S&P 500 fell 4.4 per cent and the Nasdaq 6.4 per cent, erasing a record US$2.3 trillion ($3.3 trillion) in market value.
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ASX Closes Lower as Miners Fall, While NAB and Westpac Gain
The Australian share market closed lower after pulling back from early losses, as BHP and Rio Tinto weighed on the index. Banks including NAB and Westpac gained during the session. A steep fall on Wall Street rippled through Asian markets early in the day. Macquarie Group reported an annual profit of $2.8 billion, according to the market coverage. Elixir shares fell amid tensions around its annual general meeting. The market wrap was updated through the afternoon, with the closing figures published at 4.15pm local time.