The ASX tumbled after Wall Street slumped, as rising bond yields sparked fear across equity markets. The S&P/ASX 200 finished 2.4 per cent lower at 6673.3, while the All Ordinaries Index slumped 2.4 per cent to 6940.6.
CommSec analyst Steve Daghlian said the local bourse had a rough run, suffering its worst day in about five months with a broad sell-off across all sectors.
“It’s been a volatile few weeks for our market, which has had a bit to do with movements in the bond market globally,” Mr Daghlian said.
Axi chief global market strategist Stephen Innes said US 10-year bond yields were up a whopping up 17 basis points to 1.54 per cent – the highest level in a year.
He warned a rise in the long-term bond yield had sent risk tremors through the stock market previously.
“As US bond yields continue to march higher, this continues to suggest the heavily weighted tech sector could be on the cusp of a very unpleasant near-term valuation test,” Mr Innes said.
“Tech stocks are susceptible to rising yields because their value rests most heavily on future earnings, which get discounted more negatively when bond yields go up.”
OpenMarkets Group chief executive Ivan Tchourilov agreed the surging bond yields sparked fear across equity markets and hammered the Nasdaq.
“Overseas selling has flowed through to our market today,” Mr Tchourilov said.
Buy now, pay later provider Afterpay dropped 11 per cent to $119.52.
AMP said it had reached an agreement to sell 60 per cent of AMP Capital’s private markets business to New York Stock Exchange-listed global asset manager Ares Management Corporation.
Shares in AMP jumped 7.5 per cent to $1.50.
Another strong performer was natural beauty product company BWX, which announced a five-year deal with Chemist Warehouse Group to become a platinum supplier, with entire ranges of its brands including Sukin and Andalou to be available online, plus an increased store presence in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.
That’s in exchange for a stake in the company.
Shares in BWX jumped 11.4 per cent to $4.48.
Harvey Norman reported record financial results, more than doubling its first-half net profit to $462m and turning $553.23m in net debt at the end of 2019 to a near $22m net cash position by the end of last year.
The retailer declared a fully franked interim dividend of 20 cents per share after cancelling the previous mid-year payout in April as the pandemic took hold.
It beat consensus expectations of 17 cents but was below Citi’s estimate of 30 cents.
Shares in Harvey Norman eased 1.1 per cent to $5.24.
Online retailer Kogan reported a more than 164 per cent surge in first-half net profit to $23.6m, declared a record dividend of 16 cents per share and said its customer base surged beyond three million while Black Friday trading hit all-time highs.
But gross sales growth halved last month, and its shares sank 10.4 per cent to $13.98.
Explosives maker Orica announced Alberto Calderon would step down as managing director and chief executive, sending its shares plunging 18.1 per cent to $12.56.
ANZ dipped 2.2 per cent to $26.17, Commonwealth Bank backtracked 2.6 per cent to $81.56, National Australia Bank retreated 2 per cent to $24.64 and Westpac shed 2.2 per cent to $23.82.
Rio Tinto weakened 1.3 per cent to $127.19 and BHP gave up 2.6 per cent to $49.13.
The Aussie dollar was fetching 78.45 US cents, 56.1 British pence and 64.5 Euro cents in afternoon trade.

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