ASX 200 tumbles over 2.5% following Wall Street carnage

Highlights

• Australian equities fell for the sixth straight day on Friday tracking global market rout
• ASX 200 fell over 2.5% led by broad-based selling
• Over the last five days, the benchmark index has lost 7.43%

Australian equities dropped sharply at the open on Friday (17 June), taking cues from Wall Street as rising interest rates in the US, the UK and Switzerland stoked recession fears. The benchmark index ASX 200 traded 2.64% lower at 6,417.10 lead by broad-based selloff in the opening hours of trade. the ASX All Ordinaries index was down 2.29% at 6,628.3 points.

All the three major US indices posted significant losses in overnight trade. US Federal Reserve’s largest rate hike since 1994 has left anxious investors in a panic situation as they foresee greater market uncertainty, further rate hikes and recession woes. Meanwhile, concerns related to economic growth and corporate profits have also dented investors' sentiments.

Undoing the prior day's gains, the US stocks fell sharply on Thursday, driven by the poor performance of primarily all the sectors. In yesterday's trade, tech stocks were the worst hit as the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 4.08% at 10,646.10. Talking about the other two US indexes, the S&P 500 closed 3.25% lower at 3,666.77 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.42% at 29,927.07 points.

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Newsmakers: 

Link Administration Holding Limited (ASX: LNK):

Today the share price of Link Administration Holding Limited remained on investors' watchlist after the Group affirmed its FY22 guidance provided on 24 February 2022. The company expects its revenue to increase by a low single-digit percentage and operating EBIT to be at least 5% higher compared to FY21. 

Bubs Australia Limited (ASX: BUB):

Shares of Bubs Australia Limited remained in focus today after the dairy company announced that there has been a material upgrade to the Company's FY22 revenue and earnings expectations. The company's upgraded revenue and earnings expectations are driven by strong demand in China and infant formula shortage in the USA.  

Market Action: 

Coming to the top ASX 200 gainers, Ramelius Resources Limited (ASX: RMS), Northern Star Resources Limited (ASX: NST), and Evolution Mining Limited (ASX: EVN) led the pack with 2.631%, 2.383%, and 1.857% gains, respectively. On the flip side, GUD Holdings Limited (ASX: GUD), and HUB24 Limited (ASX: HUB) were the top losers, falling 19.147% and 8.072%, respectively.

On the sectoral front, all sectors traded lower during early morning trade today, where the Financial, A-REIT, and Materials sectors were leading the losses on the broader index. The shares of the top four leading banks--Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA), National Australia Bank Limited (ASX:NAB), Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC), and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ASX:ANZ)-- were down between 2-3.5%. Meanwhile, the drop in iron ore prices seems to have pushed down the materials sector as Dalian iron ore declined for a fifth straight session on Thursday and hit its lowest in three weeks. 

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