End-of-day summary:
The share market's downward spiral continued with an 11-month closing low this session as the threat of higher rates prompts investors to dump equities and bonds.
The ASX 200 dropped 53 points or 0.77% to 6890. Banks, telcos and energy producers copped the worst of the selling. Gold miners and utilities acted as havens.
The Australian benchmark has given up more than 400 points in less than three weeks since trading above 7300 in mid-September. Today's loss was the 10th in the last 13 sessions.
The dire state of the speculative end of the market was summed up by 2.16% dive in the Emerging Companies index to its lowest since December 2021.
A dumpster fire on bond markets has infected sentiment towards equities. Bond yields in the US and Australia scaled multi-year highs in the last 24 hours as investors steeled themselves for more rate hikes after an unexpected jump in US job vacancies. The S&P 500 skidded 1.37% overnight.
At the Australian close, negative US futures hinted at further weakness tonight. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.2% as the US 10-year yield crossed 4.8%. The Australian 10-year yield today set a 12-year high at 4.68%.
