Australia Market tumbles 2.27%

21 Jan 2022 , 04:41 PM

The Australian share market tumbled on Friday, 21 January 2022, as sentiment was hit by tracking overnight losses on Wall Street and concerned over the domestic Covid-19 cases. All ASX industry sectors witnessed selloff, with shares in materials, energy, consumer discretionary, healthcare, technology, telecommunications, and utilities companies being notable losers.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 stumbled 166.57 points, or 2.27%, to 7,175.81. The broader All Ordinaries index retreated 178.84 points, or 2.33%, to 7,490.10.

The top performing stocks in this index were REGIS RESOURCES and RAMELIUS RESOURCES, up 6.06% and 2.9% respectively. The bottom performing stocks in this index were PALADIN ENERGY and ZIP CO., down 10.98% and 7.76% respectively.

Shares in materials and resources were major drag on the market today after Serbia cancelled Rio Tintos exploration licences on environmental grounds and the vast mining state of Western Australia cancelled plans to reopen its borders on Feb. 5, citing risks from the Omicron COVID-19 variant. Shares of Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue shed between 2.1% and 4.8%. Whitehaven Coal declined 6%.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar was at $0.7193, edging down from levels around $0.72 earlier.

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