Australia: Shares track Wall Street lower on weak US jobs data

[BENGALURU] Australian shares fell on Thursday to track a slide in Wall Street overnight due to weak US jobs data, with most major sectors on the domestic benchmark index seeing a sharp decline.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell as much as 1.5 per cent to 6,716.1 by 0030 GMT and was on track to end a three-day winning streak. It had gained 0.8 per cent on Wednesday following strong fourth-quarter GDP data.

On Wall Street, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.39 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 1.31 per cent, while Nasdaq lost 2.70 per cent after data showed US private employers hired fewer workers than expected in February.

Rising yields on benchmark US Treasury bonds also weighed on equities in early Asian trade.

Among individual shares and sectors, Australia's healthcare stocks fell 3.7 per cent and were set for their worst day in six months. CSL Ltd fell 5.6 per cent and Pro Medicus lost 2.6 per cent.

Losses on the tech-heavy Nasdaq weighed on their Australian peers, as a sub-index of technology stocks fell 1.5 per cent.

TechnologyOne Ltd shed 4.1 per cent, while Bravura Solutions slipped 5.1 per cent.

The gold index dropped 2.5 per cent as bullion prices slid more than 2 per cent to their lowest in nearly nine months on Wednesday.

Shares of West African Resources Ltd fell as much as 6.3 per cent, followed by Regis Resources and De Grey Mining , down 3.8 per cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively.

Metal stocks fell 2.3 per cent, with mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto down 3.2 per cent and 5.7 per cent, respectively.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index skidded 0.8 per cent to 12,258.7.

Diary firm Synlait Milk was the biggest loser on the index as it slid as much as 13 per cent to a near four-year low after withdrawing its 2021 earnings outlook.

REUTERS