The share market has extended its horror run despite rising in morning trade, closing weaker for a sixth straight session.
Gains in the banking and energy sectors lifted the market over the first half of Tuesday’s session, but that gave way to selling, particularly in the materials and consumer discretionary sectors.
Investors appeared to be unwilling to shake off the negative sentiment from last week’s run of falls that wiped almost $76 billion from the market, OptionsXpress market analyst Ben Le Brun said.
The impact of an earnings downgrade from Nine Entertainment, falls on Asian markets and rising bond yields combined to send the market lower, he said.
“We had high hopes of being able to hang onto some early gains and some bargain hunters that joined the party, but once again we’re out of sorts,” Mr Le Brun said.
“We’re sort of marching to the beat of our own drum in a negative sense here in Australia.”
Nine’s earnings downgrade sent its shares 32 cents lower, or 16.1 per cent, to $1.665, while Seven West Media dumped 13.5 cents, or 11.4 per cent, to $1.05 and Fairfax Media shed two cents to 93 cents.
Only one of the big four banks closed higher, with Westpac up 16 cents at $31.35.
Commonwealth fell 47 cents to $79.82, National Australia Bank shed 25 cents to $31.60 and ANZ lost one cent to $31.16.
Rio Tinto dropped 65 cents to $56.37, BHP Billiton surrendered 30 cents to $27.60, and its spin-off South32 fell five cents to $2.09 after delaying the restart of some of its South African Metalloys manganese alloy smelters due to sliding prices.
Fortescue Metals gained seven cents to $2.39 while Brambles spin-off Recall Holdings lifted 22 cents to $7.24 after it secured a sweetened takeover deal from US logistics giant Iron Mountain.
KEY FACTS
* On Tuesday at 1623 AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 27.2 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 5,471.3 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 26.8 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 5,479.7 points.
* The June share price index futures contract was down 36 points at 5,466 points, with 23,028 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 1.66 billion securities worth $4.2 billion.
