Australian Stock Markets Plunge
International Business Times
Published Aug 24, 2015 01:33AM ET
Updated Aug 24, 2015 01:45AM ET
Australian Stock Markets Plunge
By Aditya Tejas -
Australia’s stock market plunged on opening Monday, losing $20 billion within an hour.
Uncertainty in global stock markets, fueled by ongoing volatility in China and political uncertainty in Greece, have battered markets across the world.
The S&P/ASX 200 and the All Ordinaries indices both fell over 2.4 percent within the first 20 minutes of trade, and several major banks, including Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank all saw over 2 percent losses.
The losses continued after the initial dip. As of 0:33 a.m. EDT, the ASX 200 was trading down 3.36 percent at 5050 points, while the All Ordinaries was down 3.25 percent to trade at 5045 points.
The Australian slide also comes amid drastic losses on Wall Street, where the major Dow Jones index fell 531 points Friday, its biggest in a year.
IG Group markets analyst Angus Nicholson told the Herald Sun that the session was one of the market’s worst in five years, but said he was still hopeful. “I don’t think it will last through the week,” he said.
Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said that though markets would remain volatile for a while, the global economy’s fundamentals remained fairly strong. He warned that the volatility would continue for a while, especially with the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plans to raise interest rates in September.
“If they do increase their interest rates, then you will see movement of money from equity markets, probably into bond markets,” he said.
Get The News You Want
Written By: International Business Times
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.