The Australian sharemarket's rally appears to have run out of steam after just two days with the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) returning to the red zone.
While US equity markets remained flat overnight following some rather disappointing retail sales figures, which also prompted a strong surge for the Australian dollar, the ASX-200 has retreated almost 0.8% and is once again trading below the 5,700 point mark.
Although they have shown signs of a rebound over the last couple of days, the nation's biggest banks are again leading the fall. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) and National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) are down 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) have both been hit harder to trade 1.1% and 1.5% lower. Westpac has now lost more than 18% of its value since 7 April, 2015.
The iron ore miners are also acting as a heavy drag on the stock market after the iron ore price showed signs of further weakness overnight. Although the commodity has surged in price over the last month or so, many analysts are indicating that its price has risen too high, suggesting a big fall could be just around the corner.
Whether or not last night's fall represents the beginning of that price crash remains to be seen, but investors don't seem to want to wait around to find out. BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) have each lost 2.1% for the day, while Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) has shed 7.2% of its value. The shares are now trading at just $2.33.
Meanwhile, there has been strong movements in the biotechnology and medical sectors today after two industry behemoths released reports on their respective trial results. Sirtex Medical Limited (ASX: SRX) investors were delighted with their company's results, bidding the shares more than 30% higher, but ResMed Inc. (CHESS) (ASX: RMD) shareholders weren't so lucky with their shares falling by more than 18%.
Indeed, the sharemarket has taken investors on a wild ride over the last few weeks and there are signs that the volatility could well continue for the foreseeable future.
