ASX 200 sees sharpest fall in six weeks as CBA leads bank sell-off; Star rebounds 14pc

Bourse at four-week low. CBA margins prompt selling of banks. Corporate Travel, Treasury Wine dives on misses. Cochlear jumps on buyback. Star rockets 14 per cent.

Global and local Inflation and rate concerns as well as earnings are driving equity sentiment. Picture: Gaye Gerard

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Wednesday, February 15. The Australian sharemarket saw its sharpest fall in six weeks as Commonwealth Bank's results indicate that its net interest margins peaked in October.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 78.70 points, or by 1.1 per cent to 7352.20.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell less than 0.1 per cent, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6 per cent and the Dow Jones slid 0.5 per cent as US inflation slowed to 6.4 per cent in January.

The dollar was buying about US69.40c at the close.