The Australian share market ended the session in red amid heightened concerns about the Chinese economy following major falls on international markets.
Despite recouping some of Monday’s sharp losses, the broader market closed 0.7 per cent lower with oil, mining and financial companies coming under heavy pressure.
IG market analyst Angus Nicholson said the sell off was driven by China and heavy selling on Wall Street last Friday.
“There’s very little support there in the Chinese market to stop them seeing a further 14 per cent sell off or so,” he said.
“Those concerns really seem to be weighing down on the global economy at the moment, and particularly in the equity space.”
Markets are very skeptical of China, but the release of key data, including fourth quarter GDP and retail sales out of China on Tuesday should shed light on how the economy is tracking, he added.
Origin Energy ended the session 23 cents lower at $3.82, BHP Billiton fell 44 cents to $14.63, and Woodside Petroleum falling 70 cents to $26.29.
The financial sector was another big casualty, with ANZ down 50 cents at $24.41, National Australia Bank fell 32 cents to $26.69, Westpac fell 32 cents to $30.77, and Commonwealth Bank fell 49 cents to $78.39.
But it wasn’t all bad news, with retailers Woolworths and Wesfarmers ending the session in positive territory.
Woolworths closed 99 cents higher at $23.65 after the retailer announced it would either sell or close its struggling home improvement arm, which includes the Masters home improvement and Home Timber & Hardware store chains.
The decision was well received, and allows the company to focus its efforts on turning around its supermarkets business.
Wesfarmers ended the session 80 cents higher at $40.12 after acquiring 265 Homebase stores for STG340 million ($A705 million) from Home Retail in the UK.
Wesfarmers will rebrand Homebase to Bunnings, its home improvement chain in Australia.
KEY FACTS:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed 34.1 points, or 0.7 per cent, lower at 4,858.7, according to preliminary figures.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 36.7 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 4911.8 points.
* At 1635 AEDT, the March share price index futures contract was 15 points lower at 4,817, with 43,390 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 1.9 billion securities traded worth $4.4 billion.
