In late morning trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to give back a good portion of yesterday's gains. At the time of writing the benchmark index is down 1% to 5,861.6 points.
Four shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are sinking lower:
The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price is down almost 4.5% to $75.34. Investors have been selling Afterpay and other tech shares on Thursday following a tech selloff on Wall Street overnight. The likes of Apple, Amazon, and Tesla all fell heavily, leading to the Nasdaq dropping a sizeable 3%. This has led to the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) sinking 1.8% lower this morning.
The Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) share price has fallen 5.5% to $5.52. Evolution and other gold miners have come under pressure today after the gold price continued its slide. The spot gold price has dropped to a two-month low of US$1,862.30 an ounce amid a strengthening U.S. dollar. In light of this, the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold index is down a disappointing 4% at the time of writing.
The Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price is down over 1.5% to $16.13. This follows an announcement by the banking giant this morning relating to its dealings with AUSTRAC. According to the release, Westpac has agreed to pay a penalty of $1.3 billion for its Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism and Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF) contraventions. This was more than the $900 million it previously estimated. The Federal Court still needs to approve the agreement.
The Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) share price is 3% lower to 92 cents. Today's decline appears to have been driven by a broker note out of Morgan Stanley this morning. Although the broker has retained its overweight rating on the coal miner's shares, it has slashed its price target by almost a third. Morgan Stanley's price target now sits at $1.30, down from $1.90.
