Yahoo Finance ASX snaps win streak with freefall Thursday
The Australian stock market ended Thursday’s trade in a bloodbath, with investors seemingly anxious about a second wave of the coronavirus.
The All Ordinaries had dived 2.53 per cent when the day mercifully ended, sinking it to 5,928.00 points.
The ASX200 index didn’t fare much better – it had lost 2.48 per cent when the markets closed, to sink to 5,817.70 points.
Nervousness about growing Covid-19 numbers in countries like US and China especially affected Australian travel industry shares on Thursday.
Travel agent network Flight Centre could not wait for the trading day to end, with its share price losing a stunning 10.79 per cent of value when the market closed. Online rival Webjet shaved 8.36 per cent off its stock price.
The worries for the travel sector came from the start of the day when Australia’s dominant airline Qantas cut 6,000 jobs, signalling the seriousness of the situation.
The ugly trading day ended a four-day streak of gains.
What happened at lunchtime?
The Australian market is copping a battering on Thursday, already losing significant value at lunchtime.
The ASX200 index had lost 1.91 per cent at 12:09pm AEST, to sink to 5,851.90 points.
The All Ordinaries had plunged 1.99 per cent at the same time to reach 5,960.70.
Travel industry stocks are tanking, reflecting the renewed fear in markets about a second wave of coronavirus cases around the developed world.
Flight Centre’s share price had lost 9.01 per cent shortly before midday, and Webjet had dived 7.82 per cent.
Qantas, also heavily dependant on the ability of people to travel, dominated headlines in the morning after revealing it would sack 6,000 employees. Its shares are still in a trading halt.
What happened this morning?
Australian shares started trade Thursday lower, following an overnight dip on Wall Street.
The ASX200 index dipped 1.3 per cent in the first 27 minutes of trade to hit 5,888.00 points, while the All Ordinaries went down 1.31 per cent in the same period to reach 6,002.00.
The market opened with news that Qantas shares had been put in a trading halt ahead of an announcement of 6,000 job cuts and a $1.9 billion capital raise.
Thursday morning's fall followed a four-day winning streak in the Australian market.
What happened overnight?
Wall St was spooked by a second wave of coronavirus cases in the US, with all three major indices freefalling.
The Dow Jones Industrial fell 2.72 per cent, the S&P500 dived 2.59 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 2.19 per cent.
"Today was finally the day markets came to terms with the fact that increasing COVID-19 cases could mean a slower recovery in the economy," National Securities chief market strategist Art Hogan told AAP.
The fear in the US sent the SPI200 futures tumbling 1.55 per cent lower at 8am AEST Thursday, strongly tipping the Australian market would open down.
– with AAP
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