As expected the Australian bourse is in free fall this morning, dropping 110 points, or 2.6% to 4207. The drop follows substantial losses on Wall Street and European markets overnight.
The top 20 stocks are a sea of red with banking and mining stocks feeling the heat.
Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) is down over 5% to $42.02, the Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) is down $1.16 to $48.91 and the National is down 72c to $22.53 a drop of over 3%.
BHP Billiton is down 93c to $35.82, but is faring better than Rio Tinto which is down $2.90 to $59.35 a drop of 4.6%. Even Lihir Gold (ASX:LGL) is off dropping 7c to $3.86
Telstra (ASX:TLS) dropped 5c to $2.97, Qantas (ASX:QAN) dropped 8c to $2.32 and even defensive stocks like Woolworths are down 27c to $26.48
Gunns Limited (ASX:GNS) shares were hit hard again, dropping a jaw dropping 9% to 33.5c, a quarter of its 52 week high of $1.32 The timber firm is threatened by a class action by IMF Australia that alleges the company did not adequately inform the market about its drop in half year profits.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.