Sellers were mobilised after the World Health Organization highlighted concerns with respect to the South African strain of the Covid 19 virus with a large number of mutations. Britain swiftly announced restrictions on travel from the country and five other southern African nations, with scientists warning the new variant could be more infectious than Delta and more resistant to current vaccines.
At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 declined 127.94 points, or 1.73%, to 7,279.35. The broader All Ordinaries index dropped 136.99 points, or 1.77%, to 7,599.87.
All 11 sectors ended lower along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index, with energy sector was worst performer, down 4.56%, followed by information technology (down 2.32%), financials (down 1.95%), and consumer discretionary (down 1.95%).
The top performing stocks in this index were ST BARBARA and EVOLUTION MINING, up 2.17% and 1.23% respectively. The bottom performing stocks in this index were APPEN and FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL GROUP, down 18.81% and 7.45% respectively.
Energy stocks tumbled as oil prices tumbled amid fresh demand fears and concerns about oversupply. Oil Search, Woodside Petroleum and Santos fell about 5 percent each.
Travel related stocks were lower after reports of travel bans in response to the spread of the South African variant of Covid 19 including news that U.K. will temporarily suspend flights from a number of African countries. Webjet slumped 5.1%, Qantas retreated 5.5%, and Flight Centre slipped 7.5%.
AMP shares retreated 4.3% after the company announced it will recognise impairment charges of A$325 million in its FY 21 results. AMP said the impairments will impact capital settings by approximately A$220 million and will be accounted for as a significant item, while not impacting underlying net profit after tax (NPAT).
Appen shares lost 19% after a substantial broker downgrade citing a changing regulatory environment which could see a shift in the way large corporates source data for their artificial intelligence programs.
ECONOMIC NEWS: Retail sales jumped 4.9% in October to A$31.1 billion ($22.31 billion), extending September's already strong 1.7% bounce, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics out on Friday showed.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar fell to $0.7118, extending losses following yesterday's drop from levels above $0.72.
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