News: Australian shares track Wall Street lower on weak U.S. jobs data

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    • Aussie stocks set to snap 3-day winning run
    • Tech index tracks overnight losses on Nasdaq
    • NZ's Synlait Milk hits near 4-year low

    Australian shares fell on Thursday to track a slide in Wall Street overnight due to weak U.S. jobs data, with most major sectors on the domestic benchmark index seeing a sharp decline.

    The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) fell as much as 1.5% to 6,716.1 by 0030 GMT and was on track to end a three-day winning streak. It had gained 0.8% on Wednesday following strong fourth-quarter GDP data.

    On Wall Street, the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 0.39%, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 1.31%, while Nasdaq .IXIC lost 2.70% after data showed U.S. private employers hired fewer workers than expected in February.

    Rising yields on benchmark U.S. Treasury bonds also weighed on equities in early Asian trade.

    Among individual shares and sectors, Australia's healthcare stocks .AXHJ fell 3.7% and were set for their worst day in six months. CSL Ltd (CSL) fell 5.6% and Pro Medicus (PME) lost 2.6%.

    Losses on the tech-heavy Nasdaq weighed on their Australian peers, as a sub-index of technology stocks .AXIJ fell 1.5%.

    TechnologyOne Ltd (TNE) shed 4.1%, while Bravura Solutions (BVS) slipped 5.1%.

    The gold index .AXGD dropped 2.5% as bullion prices slid more than 2% to their lowest in nearly nine months on Wednesday.

    Shares of West African Resources Ltd fell as much as 6.3%, followed by Regis Resources (RRL) and De Grey Mining (GOR) , down 3.8% and 3.7%, respectively.

    Metal stocks AXMM fell 2.3%, with mining giants BHP (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) down 3.2% and 5.7%, respectively.

    In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) skidded 0.8% to 12,258.7.

    Diary firm Synlait Milk (SML) was the biggest loser on the index as it slid as much as 13% to a near four-year low after withdrawing its 2021 earnings outlook.

 
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