The Australian stock market has opened for today's session on the back-foot with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) plunging 50.1 points or 0.9%.
The index is now sitting at 5,382.7 points, which is 3.1% below its six-year high of 5,554.5 recorded in April this year.
The local market's plunge comes after US markets fell heavily overnight. While shares on Wall St opened on a positive note following stronger-than-expected data, they ended the day trading in the red based on reports that Syrian forces had entered the battle in Iraq.
The Dow Jones closed down 0.7% while the Nasdaq lost 0.4% for the session.
Shares in each of the major banks as well as the country's largest miners have been hit by the news. Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) have fallen the heaviest from the big four, down 0.8% and 0.7% respectively, while BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) have dropped 1.2% and 1.5%. Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) is also down 2c or 0.4%.
Although it's never nice to see our investments fall in value on days like today, they do provide us with an opportunity to buy shares on the cheap! Some of the stocks I'm watching closely are Village Roadshow Limited (ASX: VRL), which is down 2.3%, as well as NIB Holdings Limited (ASX: NHF), which has fallen 0.3% today.
It's also a great day to pick up some of The Motley Fool's BUY recommendations. Read below for more details….
