BREAKING: Australian shares suffered a rapid sell-off in the final hour of trade on Wednesday to extend the local market’s losses even as declines in Asian markets began to abate.
Australian shares suffered a rapid sell-off in the final hour of trade on Wednesday to extend the local market’s losses after the day-earlier drop, as investors priced in a quickening pace to interest rate increases.P/ASX 200 fell 1.
Global shares fell into a bear market this week as investors became worried the US would fall into a recession.The selling ran against the grain of Asian markets as robust economic reports from China showed signs of optimism and emboldened the case for the country’s easy monetary policy settings. The CSI 300 index of Chinese shares added 2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1 per cent and Singapore’s sharemarket added 0.5 per cent by late afternoon in Sydney as each benchmark partly reversed sharp declines a day earlier.US equity futures traded 0.2 per cent higher late on Wednesday in Sydney, indicating a bounce for the SP 500 when trading resumes in New York following a series of declines that have pushed the benchmark into a bear market.
The pressure facing local blue chips partly related to expectations the Reserve Bank of Australia would increase interest rates at a quicker pace than previously anticipated following