Market wrap: ASX200 falls on Wall St retreat, China fears

A run-up in Aussie shares came to a halt on Friday, with a Wall St rout and mining sell off pushing the market into a sea of red.

The local share market slumped on Friday on the back of a Wall St retreat and sell off in heavyweight mining stocks.

The benchmark ASX200 tumbled 64.9 points, or 0.81 per cent, to close at 7971, while the broader All Ordinaries slumped 63.5 points, or 0.77 per cent to finish at 8209.2.

Tech stocks edged down 0.24 per cent to 3098.2.

The decline was widespread, with 10 of 11 industry sectors ending in the red, led by materials with a 1.71 per cent fall.

Softer-than-expected economic data from China has depressed iron ore futures and triggered a sell off in large-cap miners.

BHP slumped 2.1 per cent to $41.76 a share, Rio Tinto fell 1.7 per cent to $113.99 and Fortescue lost 1.91 per cent to $21.62.

Coking coal miners, which produce coal for steel production, sold off sharply, with Whitehaven Coal shedding 1.3 per cent to $8.32 and Stanmore Resources losing 2.07 per cent to $3.78.

Friday’s broad collapse was also propelled by a bleak session on Wall St overnight on Thursday.

The Dow Jones lost 533 points, or 1.3 per cent, to close at 40,665 points, while the S and P 500 shed 0.78 per cent to 5544.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq index fell 0.7 per cent to 17,871.

The Australian sharemarket suffered broad losses on July 19, 2024. Picture: NewsWire / Christian Gilles

“Today I think was really in large part a reaction to what was happening on Wall St,” Betashares chief economist David Bassanese said.

“A bit of profit-taking, the markets have had a good run.”

“There was some apprehension about what Donald Trump might say in his acceptance speech today.

“They (the Republican Party) seem to be anti big tech, or certainly his nominee for vice president was anti big tech.

“So there’s a simmering concern they might be a bit more negative on the large-cap tech companies.

“That’s a new story emerging around technology, along with the potential for trade wars with China.”

Falling oil prices hit energy stocks, with oil and gas giant Woodside Energy falling 1.05 per cent to $29.21 and petroleum refiner and retailer Ampol sliding 1 per cent to $33.39.

Santos edged up 0.25 per cent to $8.02.

The big banks all fell, with NAB leading the pack with a 1.19 per cent slide to $37.24.

Iron ore giants like Rio Tinto are selling off on fears on weakening growth in China. Picture: NewsWire / Sharon Smith

Commonwealth Bank fell 0.78 per cent to $131.63, Westpac lost 0.91 per cent to $28.22 and ANZ shed 1.16 per cent to $29.71.

With Friday’s negative session, the benchmark index booked a 0.15 per cent lift across the week, its third week of gains.

In corporate news, a global Microsoft outage hit the Australian economy late on Friday afternoon, knocking out IT systems at several major companies including Qantas and Woolworths.

Online makeup and beauty retailer Adore Beauty jumped 5.2 per cent to 91c after delivering positive FY24 numbers.

The company reported annual revenue of $195.7m, a 7.4 per cent jump on FY23, and a 1.6 per cent increase in “active customers” to 814,000.

Flight Centre lifted 2.12 per cent to $22.66 after UBS analysts raised their target price on the stock to $27.80.

The top gainer on the ASX200 was utility company Mercury NZ, which leapt 4.9 per cent to $6.41.

The largest laggard was Yancoal, which slumped 4 per cent to $6.71.

The Aussie dollar traded flat to buy US67c at the close.

Originally published as Market wrap: ASX200 falls on Wall St retreat, China fears