The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has endured a sharp fall today, despite a positive lead being set by Wall Street overnight as the Dow Jones climbed to its highest level in two months.
Woolworths Limited (ASX: WOW) and Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) were the two companies doing the most damage with the pair shedding billions of dollars from their respective market values.
Woolworths has come under enormous pressure, falling just shy of 10%, after it announced a big profit downgrade and poor first quarter sales. The negativity has also rubbed off on its primary rival Wesfarmers, owner of Coles supermarkets which plunged 5.4%, as well as Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS), which crashed 11.4%.
The country's biggest miners didn't provide any support either. BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) both dropped as a result of a fall in the iron ore price, with further falls anticipated while Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) and its fellow gold miners all crumbled in price too.
Newcrest was down 7.5% after its annual general meeting with EVOLUTION FPO (ASX: EVN) and Beadell Resources Ltd (ASX: BDR) falling 7.8% and 5.9%, respectively.
Clearly, the biggest winners for the day were Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX: BGA) and Blackmores Limited (ASX: BKL) which both soared as a result of their fresh agreement (which you can read more about, here). Bega Cheese rose 13.5% while Blackmores gained 12% to $174 after briefly surpassing the $200 per share mark earlier in the session.
Indeed, it's been something of a choppy week on the local sharemarket and today's 1.5% drop is unlikely to work wonders for investor sentiment in general. It's possible that investors are also still processing yesterday's weak inflation figures and fearing worse times could be ahead for the Australian economy.
Personally, I think that now could be a great time to start buying some high-quality companies at discounted prices. In saying that, however, investors should also be prepared for further volatility if that comes to pass.
