The local bourse has closed lower across the board as the war in Ukraine and looming central bank rate hikes continue to weigh on the market.
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The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished down 88 points, or 1.18 per cent, to 7,347 on Monday, while the All Ordinaries fell by 101.2 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 7,623.6.
"Quite a heavy decline for our market," said CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian, who noted the sell-off came after Friday's awful session on Wall Street.
The S&P 500 dropped 3.6 per cent, its biggest single-day decline in two years, while the NASDAQ fell 4.2 per cent.
"That's obviously never helpful for us," Daghlian said of the US lead.
The market recovered somewhat in the afternoon after being down by as much as 1.8 per cent at lunchtime, possibly driven by unofficial figures from the Melbourne Institute showing inflation easing in April, which could reduce pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia to hike the cash rate on the eve of the federal election.
Expectations for a rate hike on Tuesday have fallen, Daghlain said, with the market pricing in only about a 40 per cent chance of a rise.
"It's going to be quite a close call," he said.
Tech stocks were again the worst laggards on Monday, collectively falling 4.0 per cent.
Xero fell 6.6 per cent to $90, its lowest close since August 2020, while Wisetech Global fell 7.3 per cent and Tyro Payments dropped 6.6 per cent.
The heavyweight mining sector was down 0.7 per cent as lithium miners, goldminers and nickel miners dragged on the sector.
But Rio Tinto rose 0.7 per cent to $113.59, Fortescue Metals edged 0.1 per cent higher to $21.65 and BHP was essentially flat at $47.98.
The big four banks were mixed, with NAB dropping 1.0 per cent to $32.32 after announcing it had entered into an enforceable undertaking with financial intelligence authority AUSTRAC regarding the bank's compliance with anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism financing laws.
NAB chief executive Ross McEwan said the bank acknowledged the concerns that led to AUSTRAC's investigation and recognised that it took NAB longer to fix them than it should have.
Commonwealth Bank fell 0.9 per cent to $102.97 while ANZ and Westpac were flat, at $27.30 and $23.88, respectively, ahead of the release of their half-year results later this week.
Aussie Broadband plummeted 28.1 per cent to a nearly nine-month low of $4 after a third-quarter trading update disappointed investors.
While the internet provider simply narrowed its full-year earnings guidance to the lower range of previous forecasts, that was enough to cause a major sell-off, given its 138 per cent gain last year.
Consumer companies Temple & Webster, Breville, Domino's Pizza, Collins Foods and Kogan.com had all hit 52-week lows, with drops of 1.8 to 5.9 per cent.
Domain fell 2.8 per cent and Realestate.com.au owner REA Group dropped 3.6 per cent after CoreLogic data showed Australia's housing market lost steam in April.
Industrial property giant Goodman Group dropped 7.2 per cent to a a two-month low of $22.26.
Travel was a rare bright spot as domestic tourism recovers faster than many expected.
Qantas was up 2.9 per cent to a two-month high of $5.76 after the flag carrier said it was seeing a "strong, sustained recovery in travel demand as Australia transitions to living with COVID" and it expects to return to profitability next fiscal year.
The airline said that increases in revenue had allowed it to rapidly reduce its net debt to $4.5 billion, from a peak of $6.4 billion at the height of border closures.
"After a few false starts, we're finally seeing a sustained recovery in travel demand," said Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce.
Travel agent franchisor Helloworld Travel also noted the recovery in demand, announcing that bookings were up 60 per cent in the March quarter to $419 million, compared to the same time last year.
Helloworld shares were up 2.6 per cent, while Flight Centre climbed 1.8 per cent and Webjet rose 1.2 per cent.
Natural gas producers Beach Energy, Karoon Energy and Origin Energy rose between 0.9 and 1.5 per cent as the price of the commodity trades near a 14-year high following Russia halting deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria.
WA-based junior explorer Solstice Minerals had a successful debut on the ASX, rising 17.5 per cent, but Burkina Faso-based gold explorer Sarama Resources and silica sand explorer Allup Silica both fell in maiden trading, by 9.5 and 15 per cent.
The Australian dollar was buying 70.58 US cents, down from 71.56 US cents on Friday and close to a four-month low.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished down 88 points, or 1.18 per cent, to close at 7,347 on Monday.
* The All Ordinaries index dropped 101.2 points, or 1.31 per cent, to 7,724.8.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 70.58 US cents, from 71.56 US cents when the ASX closed on Friday
* 91.91 Japanese yen, from 93.19 yen
* 66.90 Euro cents, from 67.83 cents
* 56.20 British pence, from 57.11 pence
* 109.61 NZ cents, from 109.63 NZ cents.
Australian Associated Press