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ASX closes 1.2% lower: Financials sector tumbles the most

PUBLISHED

2024-02-01

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index declined by 1.2%, closing at 7588.2 points, primarily driven by investors' concerns regarding bad debt exposure in the real estate sector following warnings from US and Japanese lenders. The financials sector, led by major banks like Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, and Westpac, experienced the most significant losses, dropping 1.8% collectively. The selling pressure intensified due to Japanese bank Aozora's 21% drop in Tokyo and US lender New York Community Bank's 37% decline on Wall Street, both of which attributed their poor performance to rising bad debt exposure in the commercial real estate market.

Futures

The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 46 points.

The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 12.5 points.

The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 65.75 points.

The SPI futures are down 98 points.

Best and worst performers

All sectors are in the red. The sector with the fewest losses was Consumer Staples, down 0.14 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Financials, down 1.81 per cent.

The best-performing large cap was Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation (ASX:FPH), closing 1.9 per cent higher at $22.56. It was followed by shares in Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) and Endeavour Group (ASX:EDV).

The worst-performing large cap was IGO (ASX:IGO), closing 4.23 per cent lower at $7.24. It was followed by shares in Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) and ALS (ASX:ALQ).

Asian markets

Japan's Nikkei has lost 0.84 per cent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng has gained 0.89 per cent.

China's Shanghai Composite has lost 2.23 per cent.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$2,062.60 an ounce.

Iron ore is 2.2 per cent lower at US$131.80 a tonne.

Iron ore futures are pointing to a 1.2 per cent fall.

Light crude is trading $0.31 higher at US$76.16 a barrel.

One Australian dollar is buying 65.41 US cents.

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