The Australian share market suffered its third triple-digit intraday fall in two weeks this morning as Dow futures flagged a soft start to the U.S. trading week tonight.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 125 points or 2.7% at 4485 after heavy falls among the big banks and miners. Gold was the only sector to trade positive, up 0.5%. The metals & mining sector slumped 3.6%, materials 3.4%, financials 3% and energy 3.1%.
In company news, shares in Leighton Holdings fell more than 6% after the company doubled its nine-month profit, but pared its full-year forecast. Shares in department store Myer fell more than 2% after it reported flat third-quarter sales but confirmed full-year guidance.
Shanghai led falls in Asia, slipping 2.5%. Japan's Nikkei was off 2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 2.3%. Dow futures were recently at a bearish -109.
In further evidence of growing risk aversion, crude oil futures dropped another $1.73 or 2.3% this morning to $73.68 a barrel, while the spot gold price climbed $7.10 to $1,238.50 an ounce.
A very ugly session. The May 7 closing low is being tested much sooner than I anticipated. Off-shore money being repatriated on the outlook for the Aussie dollar? Tricky trading this morning, with little bounce to sell into before further weakness set in. Like others here, I lost a key Iress tool for the first 20 minutes when it mattered most and missed a few entries. Skinny scalps closed on MGX and MBN. Small loss on IRE. Recently added ADX and BKN for any intraday bounces.
