Australia: Shares slide over 2% as China lockdown fears hit commodities

AUSTRALIAN shares fell more than 2 per cent on Tuesday, in line with a slump in global stocks as concerns about rising interest rates and fears of further Covid-19 restrictions in China triggered a broad-based sell-off. The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 2.4 per cent at 7,297.30, as of 0043 GMT, hitting a five-week low and marking its biggest intraday drop since Feb 24. The benchmark fell 1.6 per cent on Friday. Fears over prolonged Covid-19 lockdowns in Shanghai and potential curbs in Beijing after the city’s biggest district began mass testing spooked investors already worried about a slowdown in top commodities consumer China and aggressive global interest rate hikes. Australian miners led the decline on the domestic bourse, slumping as much as 5.7 per cent in their biggest intraday drop in nearly two years, as iron ore dropped to a more than one-month low and industrial metals tumbled. Sector majors BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group slid between 4.2 per cent and 6.6 per cent. South32 slumped 6.8 per cent even after posting a jump in quarterly metallurgical coal output. Energy stocks recorded their worst intraday drop since June 2020, declining 5.1 per cent, as crude oil prices hit their lowest in two weeks. Sector heavyweight Woodside Petroleum was down 6.2 per cent even after reporting a more than twofold jump in quarterly revenue. Gold stocks and financials fell 2.9 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, payment solution provider EML Payments sank as much as 32.7 per cent to become the biggest loser on the benchmark index after it slashed its EBITDA guidance for FY22 by about 8 per cent. New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.7 per cent to 11,830.97. REUTERS