The Australian sharemarket surrendered early gains to finish lower on Tuesday, as technology stocks led declines following a continued tech-led slump on Wall Street overnight.
The S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 36.1 points, or 0.4%, at 8,598.9, with nine of the 11 sectors ending the session in negative territory.
Technology and energy stocks were the biggest drags on the market. In the tech sector, Xero fell 2%, WiseTech Global dropped 3%, TechnologyOne eased 0.8%, and NEXTDC slid 3.1%.
Life360 tumbled 5.7%, while IperionX declined 6.4% to lead losses on the index.
Energy stocks extended losses as crude oil prices continued to slide. Woodside Energy fell 2.3%, Santos dropped 2.1%, and Beach Energy shed 2.6%.
Financials delivered a mixed performance. Commonwealth Bank finished flat, National Australia Bank edged 0.1% higher, while Westpac fell 1.1% and ANZ Banking Group lost 0.4%.
One of the standout performers was DroneShield, which surged 22.2% to lead the market after announcing it had secured an A$49.6 million contract via a European reseller supplying a military end-customer.
In other company news, REA Group fell 1.7% after Google moved to display real estate advertisements, triggering a sell-off in U.S.-listed property peers, including Domain owner CoStar and Zillow.
Southern Cross Electrical Engineering rose 2.5% after securing contract awards worth about $90 million across data centre and rail projects in New South Wales.
On the bond markets, Australian government bond yields were slightly higher. The 10-year yield lifted 0.5% to 4.733%, while 2-year rates were up 1.1% to 4.023%.
