The Australian share market is once again a pool of red today with the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) having slipped 86 points or 1.5% to just 5834 points. Investors experienced something similar on Thursday last week when the index fell almost 1.6%, although it recovered some of those losses on Friday.
Australia's mining and energy stocks are leading the downward charge following heavy falls in commodity prices which impacted iron ore, oil, gold and copper.
Companies such as Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) have fallen 1.7% and 3% in response to a 4% drop in the iron ore price, while Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) have retreated 2.9% and 5.4% respectively after oil prices sunk. BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP), which derives most of its earnings from those two commodities, has plunged 2.3%.
Unfortunately, the losses have not been restricted to the resources sectors with each of Australia's big four banks also sitting firmly in the red. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) have all been hit particularly hard with their shares down 1.3%, 1.2% and 1.1% respectively, while Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) has managed to limit its loss to a more respectable 0.5%.
Thankfully, there have been some positive stories early in the session to negate some of the bloodshed. Copper miner PanAust Limited (ASX: PNA) rose a staggering 40% after it received a new takeover bid, while Vocation Ltd (ASX: VET) soared another 21.9% following its appointment of a new CEO late last week.
