ASX 200 drops 0.6pc amid tech sell off after Fed minutes; CapVest to revise Virtus offer

ASX loses ground for a second day, falling 0.6 per cent amid tech sell off as Federal Reserve weighs half-point US rate hike. Magellan Financial rallies as outflows steady.

Technology stocks tumbled in the US amid the prospect for more aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Thursday, April 7. ASX lost ground for a second day as investors dumped tech and consumer discretionary stocks. The market tracked Wall Street lower after the Federal Reserve revealed a more hawkish stance to tame inflation.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 0.6 per cent to 7,442.8 amid heavy selling of tech stocks including Life360, WiseTech and Novonix.

In the US, stocks fell after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s meeting last month revealed that officials weighed raising rates by 50 basis points to tame inflation and neared an agreement to reduce the central bank’s bond holdings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4 per cent, the S&P 500 fell 1 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 2.2 per cent.

US 10-year bond yields rose 3 points to near 2.59 per cent after the minutes were released.

US Nymex crude oil lost more than 4 per cent overnight after the International Energy Agency said it will release 120m additional barrels. Futures have since rebounded, climbing 1.4 per cent to $US97.77 a barrel.

Iron ore, meanwhile, slid 1.4 per cent to $US160.07 a tonne.