The market's confidence is being battered as the Australian sharemarket continues to slide after the Reserve Bank's latest decision on interest rates.
After having plummeted 1.7% during Tuesday's session, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has fallen another 0.9% today to trade at its lowest level in more than four months at 5,588 points. The index has now fallen 6.6% since it peaked roughly six weeks ago, over which time the broader ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) has also dropped 5.9%.
Once again, it is the nation's major banks that are acting as the biggest drag on the wider market with investors clearly disappointed by the Reserve Bank's commentary yesterday. Although the outcome was in line with expectations, investors were hoping to at least see indications that the Bank was still marketing its easing bias.
Also, investors are quickly turning their backs on the 'Big Four' banks, all of which had become significantly overpriced due to their generous dividend yields on offer.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) has been the heaviest casualty amongst the group having slipped 1.1% to $82.08 per share. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) and Westpac Banking Group (ASX: WBC) have dropped 0.8% and 1% respectively, while National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) has lost 0.9%.
Notably, those companies that are exposed to international markets are also on the back-foot today after the Australian dollar surged more than 2% (again, due to the RBA's announcement). CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) is down 2%, while Westfield Corp Ltd (ASX: WFD) and Amcor Limited (ASX: AMC) are both down 1.3%.
Thankfully, the big miners are lending some support after the iron ore price continued to rise overnight. Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) is up 1.7%, while Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) and BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) are up 2.2% and 1.5% respectively.
