ASX crashes after wild Wall Street session

He said investors should expect more fluctuations in the coming days. “I suspect we will remain in a state of heightened volatility for a while until there is more clarity on how this will ultimately play out.”

“We will see days when the market shoots up and then days when it falls.”

Lake Resources ended the session as the day’s biggest loser, down 8.5 percent, followed by Novonix and Brainchip Holdings, down 8.5 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

Mining giants weighed on the market, with index heavyweight BHP falling 1.75 percent, while Rio Tinto (down 0.8 percent) and Fortescue Metals Group (down 1.4 percent) also fell. Energy stocks fell, with Santos down 1.8 percent, Woodside Oil down 2.8 percent and Beach Energy down 3.2 percent.

Meanwhile, tech stocks struggled amid fears that borrowing to fund their growth could become more difficult and expensive following the US bank collapse. Computershare fell 7.7 percent, Xero lost 1.5 percent and Wisetech Global lost 2.3 percent.

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The big four banks all fell more than 1.7 percent but recovered their losses, with the Commonwealth Bank gaining 0.2 percent. Westpac slipped 0.4 percent, while NAB and ANZ each lost 1.5 percent of their share price.

Regional banks fared worse, with the Bank of Queensland down 2.9 percent and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank down 1.6 percent.

Marcel Thieliant, head of Asia-Pacific at Capital Economics, said Australia’s financial system should be able to withstand the shockwaves of the Silicon Valley bank collapse.

“Australian banks are unlikely to suffer the same valuation losses that led to the sinking of Silicon Valley Bank,” Thieliant said in a note to clients.

“The biggest risk is that a foreign bond market freeze will shut off funding for the big banks, but the Reserve Bank of Australia could step in at any time by providing emergency credit. We therefore continue to expect the RBA to raise interest rates by a further 25 basis points in April.”

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On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent after overnight spike trading, where it vacillated between an early loss of 1.4 percent and a midday gain of almost as much. The Dow Jones lost 0.3 percent while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4 percent.

The broader market tipped from losses to gains as expectations mounted that all the excitement will mean the Fed won’t accelerate rate hikes again as it threatened. Such a move could give the economy and the banking system more breathing room, but also give more oxygen to inflation.

Some investors are urging the Fed to cut interest rates soon to stem the bleeding. Rate cuts often act like steroids for the stock market.

However, the broader expectation is that the Fed is likely to pause, or at least stop accelerating rate hikes, at its next meeting later this month.

With AP, Reuters

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