The Australian market has fallen by almost 1.5 per cent due to concerns about a bailout of Cyprus and falls on Wall Street.
A European Union bailout of Cyprus had scared investors and led to a negative opening on the Australian market, IG Markets strategist Evan Lucas said.
“This will impact European markets tonight and will therefore make investors here nervous, coupled with losses to major leads in the US on Friday,” he said.
“Expect the sell-off to be hard today, barring any positive news coming out of Cyprus.
The EU has imposed a condition of a 9.9 per cent levy on deposits of more than 100,000 euros in Cyprus’s banks as part of its 10 billion euro ($A12.6 billion) bailout for the island.
US stocks also fell on Friday, bringing the Dow’s 10-day winning streak to a halt as a decline in a key consumer sentiment index highlighted continuing weaknesses in the economy.
Locally, all sectors posted losses.
In resources, BHP Billiton lost 75.5 cents to $34.795, Rio Tinto shed $1.08 to $60.22 and Fortescue tumbled nine cents to $3.97.
The banks were also lower, with NAB down 53 cents at $30.77, Westpac down 41 cents at $30.48, Commonwealth down 62 cents at $69.56 and ANZ 37 cents lower at $28.35.
KEY FACTS
* At 1015 AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 72.9 points, or 1.42 per cent, at 5,047.3 points
* The All Ordinaries index was down 69.5 points, or 1.35 per cent, at 5,059.8 points
* The March share price index futures contract was 74 points lower at 5,048 points, with 32,953 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 270.16 million securities worth $1.105 billion.
