The Australian sharemarket tumbled on Friday, posting its largest weekly decline in three months as weakness in technology stocks and ongoing commodity volatility dragged equities lower.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 180.4 points or 2% to 8,708.8, with all 11 sectors trading in negative territory. For the week, the benchmark is down 1.8%, its steepest decline since mid-November.
Real estate investment trusts led losses, with Mirvac Group shedding 3%, Goodman Group down 6.1%, Charter Hall Group falling 2.5%, and Stockland retreating 3%.
The Information Technology sector was also hit following an after-hours sell-off in Amazon. The United States technology giant announced plans to spend US$200 billion this year on data centres, chips and related equipment, raising concerns among investors about whether its substantial artificial intelligence investment will generate sufficient returns.
Locally, WiseTech Global fell 4.7%, TechnologyOne shed 5%, Xero slipped 0.4%, and NextDC posted declines of 3.9%.
The Materials sector also weakened, with gold miners Northern Star Resources down 1.7%, Evolution Mining falling 1.4%, and Newmont trading 4.9% lower.
Among the major diversified miners, BHP and Fortescue Metals fell 3.1% and 1.2%, respectively, while Rio Tinto was little changed after confirming it had ended discussions with Glencore over a potential merger, stating that it could not reach an agreement that would deliver value for shareholders.
Among individual companies, REA Group slumped 7.8% after reporting first-half results that missed market expectations.
Web Travel plunged 29.5% after the hotel room aggregator disclosed that its Spanish subsidiary is being audited by the country’s tax authority.
News Corp fell 5.4%, with growth at Dow Jones and its digital real estate businesses offset by weaker conditions in its Australian news division over the December quarter.
On the bond markets, yields edged higher, with the 10-year yield rising 0.5% to 4.819% and the 2-year yield up 0.4% to 4.25%.
