The Australian sharemarket tumbled on Friday, with miners leading the decline, after a sell-off in big-name technology stocks on Wall Street overnight dragged major US equity indices lower.
After rallying earlier in the week, share in the big four banks all traded in the red, with Westpac shedding 0.9 per cent despite the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority reducing the $1 billion capital add-on applied to the bank by $500 million in response to the bank’s progress in improving its risk governance, culture and risk management.The communication services sector was the most resilient, with Telstra shares gaining 0.
Stocks of computer chip companies stabilised after tumbling a day earlier. US-traded shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co rose 0.4 per cent after the industry giant reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It bounced back from its loss of 8 per cent the previous day.