Australian shares partly recovered on Friday from the worst intraday fall in three weeks, spurred on by large slumps in tech stocks on Wall Street.
The S&P/ASX 200 slipped by 1.1 per cent during trade before making a slight comeback to end session down 37.7 points, or 0.56 per cent to 6708.2, with energy and material stocks weighing on the benchmark index.
The broader All Ordinaries index dipped 40.5 points, or 0.6 per cent to a closing position of 6963.1, while the Australian dollar was fetching 77.46 US cents and the spot gold price was $US1732.34.
CommSec analyst Steven Daghlian said the slow start was off the back of falls in US markets, with the S&P 500 closing down 1.5 per cent and the Nasdaq falling 3 per cent.
The Dow Jones index dropped 0.5 per cent.
“This was off the back of movements in the (US) bond market,” Mr Daghlian said.
“Yesterday, we had the (Federal Reserve) trying to reassure markets rates will stay on hold for many years, but the sell off in the bond market continued …”
Axi analyst Stephen Innes said rapid rise in long-end US bond yields has waned on investor sentiment.
“The rapid rise in long-end US yields has spooked investors again overnight as there appears to be no lasting respite for the fixed income onslaught,” he said.
Locally, Harvey Norman shares were unaffected by the drop in monthly national retail turnover figures, with its stock rising 4 per cent to $6.02.
Shares in News Corp were also able to buck the market trend, ending the session up 3.8 per cent to $32.51 each.
Gold miners Newcrest suffered the largest fall, sliding 3.6 per cent to $24.15 per share.
Rio Tinto also felt the market slump. Its shares tumbled 1.2 per cent to $109.46 per share, while rival BHP saw its share price drop 1.6 per cent to $44.97 each.
Fortescue Metals closed 1.4 per cent lower to $20.01 per share.
It was a mixed trading day for the major banks with Commonwealth Bank shares slipping 1.2 per cent to $84.71 each and NAB shares were unchanged at $26.01 each.
Westpac stock rose slightly by 0.3 per cent to $24.52 per share, while shares in ANZ rose 0.6 per cent to $28.31 each.
Supermarket retailer Coles announced bold new emissions targets to be at net zero by 2050, however was unable to shake off the slump, falling 0.3 per cent to $15.53 per share.
Woolworths was able to sustain some momentum, rising 0.7 per cent to $39.03 per share.
Wesfarmers rose 0.1 to $50.74 per share and Telstra shares jumped 1.25 per cent to $3.23 per share.
Afterpay followed the tech falls on Wall Street, tumbling 2.3 per cent to $108.40 per share.
Stock in Qantas fell 1.3 per cent to end the session at $5.34 per share.