SYDNEY, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Australian share market ended the day drastically lower on Thursday as investors engaged in a wide scale sell-off across most sectors.
At the market close, the main S&P/ASX 200 index was 53.70 points down, or 0.94 percent, to end at 5,655.40 points, while the wider-ranged All Ordinaries index was 53.00 points lower, or 0.92 percent, to be 5,716.70 points.
In the banking majors, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (down 0.29 percent), Westpac (down 0.38 percent), the ANZ (down 0.90 percent), and the National Australia Bank (down 0.45 percent) all fell.
The miners were lower, with BHP down 0.76 percent, Rio Tinto down 0.85 percent, Fortescue down 3.00 percent, and Newcrest down 2.93 percent.
In oil and gas, a great day for the heavyweights with Woodside (up 1.84 percent), PNG-focussed Oil Search (up 0.44 percent), and Santos (up 1.79 percent) all rising.
Grocery giant Woolworths (up 0.08 percent) did well, while rivals Wesfarmers (down 0.80 percent) fell.
Telco giant Telstra (down 1.39 percent) bottomed out, while iconic airline Qantas (down 1.70 percent) also took a hit.
At 4:35pm (AEST), one Australian dollar was buying 79.65 U.S. cents, while crude oil was trading at 50.61 U.S. dollars per barrel. Enditem
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)