The Australian sharemarket closed lower on Tuesday after Donald Trump moved forward with higher tariffs on major trading partners, dashing hope of a reprieve for China and Canada who swiftly retaliated.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index was off 0.6 per cent, or 47.6 points, at 8198.10 at the market close, paring some gains after its more than 1 per cent drop early in the session. The All Ordinaries fell 0.8 per cent. Ten of 11 sectors were in the red with energy stocks leading losses.

The sharemarket tracked heavy falls on Wall Street before the new tariffs – a 25 per cent levy on exports from Mexico and Canada, and a second 10 per cent levy on China – came in to effect at 4pm. Canada retaliated with its own broad tariffs on US goods, while China imposed levies of up to 15 per cent on goods including chicken and cotton.

‘Risk off’

In Australia, miners tracked a fall in the iron ore price, which briefly slipped below $US100. Fortescue was down 3.9 per cent to $16.15 and BHP slipped 0.3 per cent to $39.48. Lithium miners were heavily sold: Mineral Resources, which also mines iron ore, dropped 10.3 per cent to $21.48, while IGO sank 3.4 per cent to $3.96.

Those losses were tempered by gold miners as spot steadied, as concerns around the impact of the tariffs prompted haven buying. Evolution Mining advanced 1.6 per cent to $6.24 and Spartan Resources 6.3 per cent to $1.43.

Elsewhere, brent crude traded at its lowest level this year, near $US71 a barrel, after OPEC+ said it would increase production. That drove energy stocks lower: Ampol fell 1.9 per cent at to $26.35, Woodside 3.1 per cent to $24.48 and Santos 4.7 per cent to $6.35.

The ASX’s losses were offset, however, by gains from index heavyweight CSL, which pushed the healthcare sector marginally into the green.

Ophir Asset Management’s head of research, Luke McMillan, said the size of the sell-off in equities reflected investor fears that “a North American trade war is on the cards”.

“This saw a classic risk off trade, with small caps underperforming large and defensive sectors like staples and healthcare outperforming more cyclical sectors like consumer discretionary and energy.”

Stocks in focus

In corporate news, private hospital operator Healthscope failed to pay rent due for March on 11 of its facilities owned by David Di Pilla’s HealthCo Healthcare & Wellness REIT, which fell 8.1 per cent to 89¢. Di Pilla’s investment firm HMC Capital tumbled 7.2 per cent to $8.60.

Suncorp slipped 2 per cent to $19.26 amid concern about Tropical Cyclone Alfred. The company told investors the federal government’s cyclone reinsurance pool provided cover for damage from a cyclone. Fellow insurers QBE and Insurance Australia Group were also hit, retreating 2 per cent to $21.45 and 1.7 per cent to $7.72, respectively.

DigiCo Infrastructure REIT tumbled 5.1 per cent to $4.10, even as E&P Capital initiated coverage on the stock with a “positive” recommendation and price target of $5.13, implying a nearly 20 per cent upside from current levels.

Insignia dropped 5.6 per cent to $4.03 after it declined an early request from National Australia Bank to redeem $200 million in subordinated loans.