ASX Tumbles as Wall Street Weakness Spreads Down Under

Australian equities are taking a beating on Friday, wiping out Thursday’s gains as negative US cues ripple across the Pacific. The S&P/ASX 200 has dropped 1.48% to 8,426, hitting lows of 8,383 earlier in the session—mining and tech leading the selloff.

The damage by sector:

• Mining stocks getting hammered: Fortescue down ~4%, Rio Tinto and BHP losing >2% each, Mineral Resources sliding >3%
• Energy names mostly in red: Santos, Origin, Woodside all down >1%, Beach Energy tumbling ~3%
• Tech not spared: Zip sliding >3%, Block down >2%, Appen dropping ~4%—though WiseTech Global bucked the trend with a +4% pop
• Big Four banks holding up (relatively): Commonwealth and NAB barely budged at -1%, while ANZ and Westpac dipped >1%
• Gold miners taking it on the chin: Newmont diving ~5%, Resolute and Genesis both sliding >4%

Stock-specific carnage: Retailer Accent Group got nuked with a 10%+ plunge after slashing earnings guidance—soft sales and heavy discounting to blame. Luxury jeweller Lovisa hit almost as hard, tumbling 10% after same-store sales disappointed big time in the first 20 weeks of FY2026.

The bright spot: Services PMI accelerated to 52.7 in November (up from 52.5), showing the sector’s still expanding. Manufacturing also improved to 51.6 from October’s 49.7. Composite index rose to 52.6—so the economy’s not completely stalling despite the equity swoon.

Aussie dollar holding at $0.645.