The S&P/ASX 200 index has started the week deep in the red. In afternoon trade the benchmark index is down a whopping 6% to 5,846.7 points.
Four shares that have fallen heavily today are listed below. Here's why they are sinking lower:
The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price has come under pressure and is down 17% to $27.32. Afterpay and many of its fellow tech shares have fallen heavily today amid the broad market selloff. They may have been targeted due to the lofty multiples their shares trade on. At present the S&P/ASX 200 information technology index is down almost 9%.
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) share price has sunk 6.5% lower to $20.70. The big four banks have all fallen heavily on Monday due to general share market weakness and concerns that a collapse in oil prices could cause a credit crunch in the energy sector. At the time of writing, all the big four banks are down over 5.5%.
The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price has fallen a sizeable 12% to $28.31. Investors have been selling BHP's shares due to its exposure to oil. On Friday night oil prices crashed 10% lower and then fell a further 30% this morning. At the time of writing, the WTI crude oil price is down 25% to US$31.10 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price is 23.5% lower at US$34.56 a barrel.
The Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) share price has crashed 31% lower to $3.52. This has been driven by the aforementioned collapse in oil prices. The driver of this decline was the failure of OPEC+ to agree on production cuts and fears that a price war could be about to break out between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Some analysts believe oil prices could fall as low as US$20.00 a barrel in the near term.
