The Australian share market fell sharply on Monday, amid a surge in oil prices as the war in Ukraine continues to rock commodity and equity markets.
The benchmark ASX 200 index closed 1 per cent lower at 7,038. The broader All Ordinaries also dropped 1 per cent to 7,321.
At 4:30pm AEDT, the global price of Brent crude oil was up more than 10 per cent to $US130.13 a barrel.
The US benchmark oil, West Texas intermediate crude, was up 8 per cent at $US125.87.
The price of oil soared again as concerns grow about global inflation and the possibility of further sanctions, such as a Western ban on Russian oil and gas, with analysts in Australia predicting the price at the pump could soon hit $2.
"The average Australian family is spending a record $257.46 a month on petrol, up $35 from the beginning of 2022," CBA chief economist Craig James said.
"That is effectively 'dead' money or a tax on consumption, meaning that consumers have to either cut back on non-essential spending or dip into savings."
That surge is also pushing up the value of Australian-listed energy companies, which were among those seeing the biggest gains.
Woodside was the top-performing stock on the top 200 companies index, up 9 per cent. Santos gained 5.3 per cent.
Other top stocks were Ramelius Resources (+6.4pc), IGO Limited (+6.3pc), Beach Energy (+6.3pc) and Gold Resources (+5.9pc).
Imugene Limited was the worst-performing stock, down 10.2 per cent.
Qantas stocks also tumbled, down 8.5 per cent on rising oil prices. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield fell 8.4 per cent, Lynas Rare Earths lost -7.7 per cent, and Life360 dropped 7.3 per cent.
Globally, energy giant Shell is being criticised for buying oil from Russia.
It said it made a "difficult decision" to buy Russian crude oil to ensure the supply of the commodity was kept stable in Europe.
"We will continue to choose alternatives to Russian oil wherever possible, but this cannot happen overnight because of how significant Russia is to global supply," it said.
OPEC last week voted against releasing extra reserves of oil.
Palladium, which is used to make catalytic converters, jumped to a record high amid concerns it will be in short supply if there are new sanctions against Russia.
The precious metal gained 3.5 per cent to $US3,138.50.
Gold was up 1.3 per cent to $US1,992.60 an ounce.
Four-year ASIC vs Rio Tinto legal battle ends with a $750k fine
ASIC's four-year pursuit of Rio Tinto for breaching continuous disclosure obligations has ended with the Federal Court ordering the miner to pay a $750,000 fine that was agreed to by both parties.
Instead of proceeding to trial, last week ASIC and Rio Tinto asked the court to approve a settlement fine.
Rio Tinto failed to disclose material information to the ASX from December 2012 to January 2012, including that mining assets held by its coal operations in Mozambique were "no longer economically viable as long-life, large-scale, tier-one coking coal resources."
"Rio Tinto had obligations to the market to keep it adequately informed about its mining projects overseas," ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said.
"When Rio Tinto was aware of information that Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique was no longer economically viable as a long-life, large-scale, Tier 1 coking coal resource, the market should have been properly informed in a timely manner."
The court also ordered that the regulator drop its proceedings against two former officers of Rio Tinto, Mr Tom Albanese and Mr Guy Elliott.
Rio Tinto stocks closed 0.7 per cent lower.
AGL stocks were down 1.7 per cent after the company rejected a second offer from tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and his partner Brookfield Asset Management.
Mr Cannon-Brookes and Brookfield made an increased offer of $8.25 a share — a 75 cent-per-share increase from the original $7.50 bid made a fortnight ago.
AGL said it was "still well below the fair value" of the energy company.
