Investors strip $55b from ASX as Trump drops tariff bomb
The local share market has nosedived in the first 30 minutes of trade, with investors stripping it of $55 billion of value after President Donald Trump revealed Australia would cop a 10 per cent tariff hit on all good imported into the US.
Continuing a roller-coaster ride for the leading index over the past few weeks as investors braced for the fallout of the looming impost, the S&P-ASX200 dropped more than 2 per cent to 7772.50 points — down 162.80 — as it tested 12-month lows last seen two weeks ago.
The rout took losses on the index for the year to date to 5.3 per cent.
It was a sea of red across all 11 sectors, with the banks (down 2.4 per cent), energy and real estate (each down 2 per cent), consumer discretionary and IT stocks (both down 1.8 per cent) taking the full brunt of the retreat.