Heavy falls by energy producers, miners and the big four banks have pushed the market more than one per cent lower.
Further falls in oil prices on world markets due to oversupply had the likes of Woodside, Oil Search and Santos all more than 3.5 per cent lower, while a $658 million annual loss from Origin Energy caused its shares to plunge more than eight per cent.
Miners were also impacted by concerns about a return of volatility to China’s sharemarkets, and a weak lead from Wall Street dented overall sentiment.
Retail giant Wesfarmers was up 1.2 per cent after lifting its annual underlying profit to $2.4 billion, while Qantas had gained half a per cent after its massive turnaround to a $975 million pre-tax underlying profit.
KEY FACTS
* At 1201 AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 62.7 points, or 1.17 per cent, at 5,317.5 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 58.7 points, or 1.09 per cent, to 5,321.1 points.
* The September share price index futures contract was down 85 points at 5,268 with 20,303 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 866 million securities worth $2.4 billion.
