• Notification Date: 15-01-2025
• Notification No: N/A

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Drops 1.23% as IT, Financials, and Consumer Sectors Lead Decline

Australian shares fell on Monday, retreating 1.23 percent on the S&P/ASX 200, under heavy selling as the IT, Financials, and Consumer Discretionary sectors took it down.

Premier Investments Ltd was among the major losers during the day, losing by 15.92% to $27.78. Following this was St Barbara Ltd at 10.71% for settlement at $0.25. Netwealth Group Ltd fell by 9.94% to $27.36.

A few index hopefuls did sparkle. Nanosonics Ltd gained 5.47% to $3.28 and Gold Road Resources Ltd reached a new high of all time by gaining 3.70% up to $2.24. Beach Energy Ltd increased 2.78% to $1.48.

In commodities, gold was down slightly. February delivery contracts fell 0.12% to $2,711.82 per ounce. Oil, however, shot up, rising sharply, by 1.72% in March at $77.05 a barrel. Brent also was up 1.87% at $81.25 a barrel.

As an indicator of the market's volatility, the S&P/ASX 200 VIX climbed 10.13% to end at its one-month high of 12.28 points in an accumulation of what appears to be uncertainty. Meanwhile, the Australian dollar traded broadly flat against the US dollar at 0.61 while building on its losses down 0.38% against the Japanese yen at 96.53.

Decliners easily outpaced advancers at the Sydney Stock Exchange, where 738 declines trailed gainers by only 331.