At lunch on Friday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has crashed notably lower following a very disappointing night of trade on Wall Street. The benchmark index is currently down 2.75% to 5,944.2 points.
Here's what has been happening on the market today:
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Tech shares sinking lower.
The tech sector has come under significant pressure on Friday after Wall Street's tech-heavy Nasdaq index crashed 5% lower overnight. At the time of writing the likes of Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT), Appen Ltd (ASX: APX), and WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) are all trading notably lower. The latter two are down 7% at the time of writing. This has led to the S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology index falling over 4%.
Quarterly rebalance.
This morning S&P Dow Jones indices announced the quarterly rebalance of the ASX 200 index. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 will see five changes later this month. Five new companies will be added to the index on 21 September, this includes buy now pay later provider Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P). Joining Zip will be airport operator Auckland International Airport Limited (ASX: AIA), risk management company AUB Group Ltd (ASX: AUB), and gold miners Ramelius Resources Limited (ASX: RMS) and Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX: WGX).
Banks shares tumble.
The big four banks have not been immune to the market selloff on Friday. All four banks are dropping notably lower, but the worst performer has been the Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ) share price. At the time of writing the banking giant's shares are down almost 3%.
Best and worst performers.
There are not many ASX 200 shares pushing higher on Friday. In fact, at lunch there are just 6 out of 200 shares in positive territory. The best performer has been the SKYCITY Entertainment Group Limited (ASX: SKC) share price with a gain of almost 2%. Investors have been buying its shares since the release of its full year results yesterday. The worst performer is the Appen share price with a 7% decline following the tech selloff.
