Australian share market loses $60BILLION in 30 minutes as global inflation fears spook investors

Australia’s share market has lost $60billion in half an hour as global inflation fears caused a 2.5 per cent plunge – taking it back to 2020 levels.

A half a percentage point interest rate rise in Switzerland, the first in 15 years, on the back of this week’s 0.75 percentage point rate hike in the U.S., the biggest since 1994, has caused a decline in every major sector of the Australian Securities Exchange.

Interest rates were also raised in the UK and Taiwan, causing a 3.25 per cent plunge on Wall Street’s key S&P 500 index.

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 2.5 per cent to 6,425.7 points by 10.30am on Friday, Sydney time, just 30 minutes after the market opened.

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Australia’s share market has lost $60billion in half an hour as global inflation fears caused a 2.5 per cent plunge

The Australian share market is now 15 per cent below the peak in April and is back to its worst level since November 2020 shortly after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut the cash rate to a record-low of 0.1 per cent.

Another negative finish on Friday would mark the sixth straight session of losses. 

CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian said global inflation fears were scaring investors across all sectors from banking to consumer staples like the big supermarkets.

‘We’re continuing to see widespread declines as well,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.

Within the first hour of trade, Commonwealth Bank shares were down 3.6 per cent to $87.23.

Mining giant BHP fell 3.9 per cent to $42.21.