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10 million COVID-19 cases and over 500,000 deaths put a dent in markets worldwide today as the ASX slid further into the red.
Today’s grim news came after another rough night on Wall Street, where both the Dow Jones and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost over two per cent each.
The battering follows news the U.S. now holds the highest death rate for COVID-19, with nearly 2.6 million cases and roughly 128,000 fatalities.
On our home turf, Victoria recorded 75 new COVID-19 cases, with just one of those diagnosed in hotel quarantine.
Fresh fear of a community outbreak in Australia — or even a much-dreaded second wave — spurred markets towards the red.
Today, the ASX 200 closed 1.51 per cent down, plummeting to 5815 points. Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries sunk 1.6 per cent, hitting 5916 ticks.
At the end of the day, just 22 of the 200 biggest companies managed to put points on the board, while 175 closed in the red.
It means the 6000 mark is slipping ever further away, as the primary index now lingers just above 5800.
The bloodbath continued on the sectors board, where not a single stock category could inch into the green.
Today, Real Estate was the worst hit with a 3.27 per cent fall, followed by Energy and Industrials stocks, with 2.75 and 2.91 per cent losses.
In Financials, a hefty 1.94 per cent drop was worsened by falls across the big four banks. NAB lead the slump with a 1.85 per cent drop, WBC followed with a 1.67 per cent loss, and CBA and ANZ slipped 1.49 and 1.41 per cent into the red respectively.
Across the board, Consumer Staples stocks performed the best, with only a 0.31 per cent collective drop. Activity among supermarkets giants was mixed, with Coles making small gains, but Woolworths reporting a tiny share price slump.
Surprisingly, the sector’s largest gainers for the day comprised seafood businesses, with Murray Cod Australia, New Zealand King Salmon and Pure Foods Tasmania all recording share price spikes.
Meanwhile, slumps across the vast majority of the 662 Materials companies made a dent in the market. Major iron ore players all closed down, while gold stocks were much more mixed.
Across international markets, Asian exchanges are posting incremental spikes and falls, while the U.S. markets are poised for another soft session overnight.
Today’s ups and downs
On Mondy’s session, Auteco Minerals’ (ASX:AUT) share price doubled following the announcement of a new inferred resource. The maiden resource for the Pickle Crow Gold Mine now covers 830,000 ounces at 11.6 grammes per tonne of gold. If that wasn’t enough to get shareholders excited, a new drilling program is already underway to expand the resource, with claims the mineralisation remains open in every direction. As a result, Auteco shares closed up 100 per cent, trading for 16 cents per share.
Outgoing ASX 200-lister Jumbo Interactive (ASX:JIN), however, failed to impress today with an agreement extension signed with Tabcorp. A reduced operating margin under the new extension, as well as trouble reaching a deal with Lotterywest in WA, kept investors on the sell side. As a result, the lottery games reseller shed 13.2 per cent today to trade for $9.90 per share.
