Wednesday, 08 July 2015 11:56
SYDNEY: Australian stocks slumped 2.01 percent Wednesday after European leaders handed debt-stricken Greece a final deadline to reach a new bailout deal and China’s volatile markets continued their slide.
At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 111.9 points lower at 5,469.5, wiping out all its gains on Tuesday.
Analysts said Greece being given until Sunday to thrash out an agreement and avoid crashing out of the euro, coupled with another rout in China, was hurting sentiment.
“News that the Greek crisis is heading towards another weekend crunch point, steep declines in metals prices and concerns about the implications of ongoing volatility in China’s stock market for the wider economy are all causes of concern for share traders,” said CMC chief market analyst Ric Spooner.
IG Markets strategist Chris Weston added: “For traders there are only two games in town and these remain China’s equity markets and the Greek negotiations.”
In late trade the Australian dollar continued its fall and was fetching 74.18 US cents from 74.53 in morning action, while it was buying 67.38 euro cents from 67.88 euro cents.
