Aust share market plunges again, hitting 10-week low

The local share market has fallen sharply again, hitting a 10-week low after the bank crisis spread to Europe, with fears about the solvency of Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse.  

At noon AEDT on Thursday, the S&P/ASX200 was down 104.7 points, or 1.48 per cent, to 6,964.2. That's its lowest level since January 3, with the benchmark index having dropped 2.5 per cent since Friday's close. 

Earlier on Thursday morning it had been down as many as 157.8 points, or 2.2 per cent, to 6,911.1. 

The broader All Ordinaries index was down 110 points, or 1.51 per cent, to 7,155.3.  

"There's no buyers really," Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston said on Ausbiz TV. 

"There's a lot of questions (about banks globally) ... and we don't know the answers at the moment. And when we do that we sell and de-risk and we de-leverage our portfolios, and that's exactly what we're seeing at the moment."

The Swiss central bank said it would provide a backstop to Credit Suisse, whose shares plunged after it announced it had found "weakness" with its financial reporting.

Domestically, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the country's unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 per cent in February, from 3.7 per cent in January and slightly better than consensus expectations of 3.6 per cent.

City Index analyst Matt Simpson wrote that the "decent" employment report brought back the potential for the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points next month, and not pause as markets have been expecting since the banking chaos last week. The data "hardly scream imminent recession or deflation", Mr Simpson said. 

Every sector of the ASX was in the red at midday, with energy and mining the hardest hit, down 3.7 and 2.9 per cent, respectively.

Woodside had fallen 4.2 per cent to a six-month low of $31.48 as Brent crude prices fell under $US75 a barrel for the first time since December 2021.

Santos was down 3.6 per cent and Whitehaven Coal had dropped 5.2 per cent to an eight-month low of $6.635.

In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP was down 3.8 per cent to a three-month low of $43.81, Fortescue Metals had dropped 3.0 per cent to $21.075 and Rio Tinto had fallen 4.2 per cent to a three-month low of $114.55.

ANZ was the leading loser among the Big Four banks, down 1.7 per cent to a five-month low of $22.885. Westpac was down 1.6 per cent to $21.30 and NAB was down 1.1 per cent to $28.01, but CBA had clawed its way back into the green, rising 0.2 per cent to $95.54.

Insurance companies - whose investment portfolios would be hurt if central banks pause rate hikes - were again having a tough day.

IAG was down 3.4 per cent, Suncorp had dropped 1.9 per cent and QBE was 3.4 per cent lower.

Law firm holding company IPH had dropped 11.2 per cent to $7.45 after disclosing it had been hit by a cyber attack. Latitude Group had also been hit by a hack; its shares were in a trading halt.

The Australian dollar was buying 66.30 US cents, from 66.82 US cents at Wednesday's ASX close.