Australian sharemarket in the red, weighed down by tech, healthcare, bank and travel stocks

Buy-now-pay-later stocks were again hit by news of US giants entering their arena, while travel stocks dropped as Victoria braced for another lockdown.

The Australian sharemarket finished lower after a choppy session, with the tech sector the main drag on the market, while travel stocks were hit as Victoria braced for yet another snap lockdown.

The S&P/ASX200 closed 0.26 per cent weaker at 7335.9 while the All Ordinaries Index fell 0.2 per cent to 7616.6.

OMG chief executive Ivan Tchourilov said buy-now-pay-later giants Afterpay and Zip dropped further after PayPal and Apple both announced they were releasing BNPL products into the market.

“Selling has continued today after yesterday’s bloodbath with Zip in hot water,” Mr Tchourilov said.

“It’s now dropped 20 per cent in seven trading days and has quickly made its way down to a key technical support level.

“It really needs to hold here or it could get quite ugly in the short term.

“It’s been in the top three most purchased stocks for Openmarkets traders today and yesterday, so it seems that some are already hoping the Zip dip might be a blip.”

Afterpay gave up 2.28 per cent to $104.56, Zip slumped 5.6 per cent to $6.91 and accounting software provider Xero slipped 2.32 per cent to $134.46.

Zip has been sold-off over multiple sessions recently. Picture: John Gass / NCA NewsWire

However, BNPL provider Sezzle rose 5.15 per cent to $8.37.

Sezzle announced a subsidiary of US-based banking and payment services company Discover Financial Services would invest $US30m ($A40.1m) in the company and enter into an expanded partnership, including plans for a BNPL network solution on the Discover Global Network.

Healthcare stocks also weighed on the market, with biotech giant CSL shedding 1.67 per cent to $275.15.

Medical device company Polynovo plunged 8.7 per cent to $2.10 after Bell Potter responded negatively to its full-year results, saying the company’s commentary that only 50 per cent of hospitals had returned to purchasing and pre-pandemic patterns came as a surprise, especially in the US market.

In the travel sector, Corporate Travel Management retreated 3.29 per cent to $20.57, Webjet lost 2.82 per cent to $4.83, Flight Centre backtracked 2.58 per cent to $14.71 and Qantas dropped 0.64 per cent to $4.68.

Sydney Airport inched one cent higher to $7.81 after its board rejected a $22bn takeover offer of $8.25 cash per share from a consortium led by super fund-owned IFM Investors, saying the bid was opportunistic given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its performance.

“The indicative price is below where Sydney Airport’s security price traded before the pandemic,” the board said.

Sydney Airport’s board has rejected a $22bn takeover offer, labelling it opportunistic. Picture: Dylan Coker / NCA NewsWire

Still on the mergers and acquisitions front, electricity transmission business Spark Infrastructure emerged from a trading halt to confirm it had received a $4.9bn proposal from a global private equity giant and Canadian pension fund of $2.80 per share, which it swiftly knocked back, saying the bid undervalued the company.

Shares in Spark gained 6.05 per cent to $2.63.

In the energy sector, Woodside Petroleum softened 0.99 per cent to $22.97 after releasing its second quarter report, which RBC Capital Markets analyst Gordon Ramsay said showed lower than expected revenue and production volumes but sales volumes beat his estimates.

Whitehaven Coal also delivered its June quarter report, saying coal prices had staged a remarkable recovery over the period, particularly for high-CV thermal, which were at 10-year highs.

Shares in the miner jumped 4.55 per cent to $2.07.

Rio Tinto appreciated 2.23 per cent to $131.14, BHP put on 1.12 per cent to $51.53 and Fortescue lifted 2.06 per cent to $25.72.

ANZ dipped 0.58 per cent to $27.49, Commonwealth Bank gave up 0.48 per cent to $98.31, National Australia Bank backtracked 0.9 per cent to $26.02 and Westpac fell 1.1 per cent to $24.99.

The Aussie dollar was buying 74.75 US cents, 53.92 British pence and 63.15 Euro cents in afternoon trade.

Originally published as Australian sharemarket in the red, weighed down by tech, healthcare, bank and travel stocks