The Australian share market finished session deep in the red on Wednesday, 09 September 2020, dragging the benchmark back to its lowest point since late June, on tracking tech-led rout on the Wall Street overnight, with spike in infections in the country's coronavirus hot spot Victoria further dampened on sentiments. Also hurting sentiment was news that AstraZeneca putting a promising COVID-19 vaccine trial on pause due to an unexplained illness in a study participant.
At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropped 129.21 points, or 2.15%, to 5,878.63. The broader All Ordinaries declined 131.34 points, or 2.12%, to 6,058.90.
All sectors finished deep in the red, with energy, financials and tech stocks being notable losers.
Energy stocks were the worst performers as oil prices extended their steep losses into Wednesday, with Beach Energy sliding 9.2%, Oil Search dropped 7.8%. Origin Energy fell 5.5%, Woodside Petroleum tumbled 4.4%, and Santos declined 5.4%.
Local tech stocks fell, with Afterpay giving up 1.3% and accounting software firm Xero shedding 2.1%.
In the financial sector, Credit Corp fell 7.8%, Challenger fell 5.2%, Virgin Money fell 4.4% and Magellan Financial dropped 5.2%.
Heavyweight banks were also lower. Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corp were the biggest percentage losers among financials, down 2.5% and 3.3%, respectively.
Shares of healthcare giant CSL dropped 2.5% as UK-based AstraZeneca putting a promising COVID-19 vaccine trial on pause due to illness in a trial patient was a dampener.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7225 after falling from levels above $0.726 yesterday.
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