Australian shares have fallen, dragged down by mining and energy stocks on weaker iron ore and oil prices, while persistent fears of a possible worldwide recession weighed on investor sentiment.
The ASX 200 closed down 94 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 6,664.
By 4:08pm AEDT, the Australian dollar was up, at 62.34 US cents.
Leading losses on the benchmark, mining stocks dropped 2.1 per cent, as iron ore prices fell amid worries over demand in top steel producer China.
Mining giants Rio Tinto, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals Group fell between 1.2 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively.
Adbri plunged more than 22 per cent on news that its chief executive, Nick Miller, will leave the company and the ongoing wet weather conditions would continue to impact its profit margins.
Financials, technology and healthcare stocks all traded in the red.
Gold stocks dropped 3.4 per cent. Newcrest Mining and Northern Star Resources fell 1.8 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively.
Energy stocks lost 2 per cent after oil prices fell on weak oil demand. Woodside Energy and Santos dropped 2.4 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.
Costa Group shed more than 13 per cent after reporting that earnings in its citrus category will be considerably lower than previously forecast.
Health insurance company Medibank fell 3.4 per cent after reporting a cyber incident last week. The company said on Monday it had resumed normal business operations and there was no evidence that customer data had been removed from the network.
Star Entertainment Group went into a trading halt after New South Wales Independent Casino Commission announced that the company's Sydney casino licence would be suspended from Friday.
US equities slide
Wall Street stocks closed sharply lower on Friday as investors worried about inflation and rising interest rates while the US dollar rose against the yen and the sterling after the British prime minister's firing of her finance minister.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 403.89 points, or 1.34 per cent, to 29,634.83, the S&P 500 lost 86.84 points, or 2.37 per cent, to 3,583.07 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 327.76 points, or 3.08 per cent, to 10,321.39.
In US Treasuries, benchmark 10-year yields gained some ground after data showed US retail sales were unexpectedly flat in September as high inflation crimped demand and investors continued to bet on aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes.
The US third-quarter earnings season started on a positive note, with shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo & Co and Citigroup rising after their reports.
However, as the session wore on, equity declines deepened, with oil prices pushing energy stocks down sharply and consumer stocks falling sharply.
Buyers were reluctant to step in after Thursday's big rally, according to Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones.
While traders stepped in to cover bearish bets on Thursday, despite higher-than-expected inflation data, Ms Mahajan noted that stocks headed lower on Friday after a University of Michigan survey showed rising inflation expectations.
"We're back to looking at inflation data very carefully. The Fed does watch inflation expectations. They certainly don't want inflation expectations to become ingrained in consumer sentiment," said Mahajan, who also noted signs of fear in the market as the CBOE Volatility index remained above 30.
UK PM firing of finance minister fails to reassure investors
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.6 per cent last Friday.
Sterling fell sharply after Britain's PM Liz Truss fired finance chief Kwasi Kwarteng and scrapped parts of their economic package, which had caused an uproar in financial markets.
Friday was expected to be the last day of the Bank of England's bond-buying program set up to stabilise government bond (or gilt) markets, after investors were spooked by unfunded tax cuts announced in a "mini-budget" last month.
Investors appeared to have little confidence in the prime minister's position nor the likelihood that her decisions on Friday could restore Britain's credibility in financial markets.
Sterling was trading at $US1.1171, down 1.39 per cent late on Friday, after falling as low as $US1.1149, while the euro was down 0.55 per cent at $US0.9719.
Oil prices landed down more than 3 per cent at the end last week as fears of a global recession and weak oil demand, especially in China, outweighed support from a large cut to the OPEC+ supply target.
By 4:09pm AEDT, Brent crude slightly recovered, trading at $US92.34.
ABC/Reuters
