The Australian market dropped soon after opening this morning, following big falls in Europe overnight, and slowly tried to recover all day before falling again at the close.
The Australian S&P/ASX200 was down 1.23% or 51.9 points to 4152.80, and the All Ordinaries Index was down 1.23% or 52.8 points to 4242.7.
The Australian dollar weakened on the back of lower commodity prices, with one Australian dollar buying $US1.0536.
Biggest winners were pay TV company Austar United Communications, which rose 5.147 % to $1.43, and Telecom NZ holdings – up 3.45% to $1.80.
Perth-based global mining supplies company NRW Holdings fell 6.07% to $3.56.
The biggest sector loser was the All Ordinaries Gold sub-industry, which was down 3.20% or 208.9 points to 6328.80.
All sectors were down today, with the S&P/ASX 200 Telecommunication Services index suffering least – down 0.23% down by 2.6 points to 1110.9.
Asian stocks fell for a third day in a row – the longest stretch this year – while South Korea’s won slid ahead of the deadline on Greece’s debt. Bond risk in Asia rose to a one-month high.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index traded lower today, at 0.76% or 158.32 points to 20647.90.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 also traded down 0.77% or 74.02 points to 9563.61, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index 50 was down 0.62%, or 18.11 points, to 2913.90.
The biggest winner was Hong Kong’s Siberian Mining Group Company, which rose 15.38%. The investment holding company provides digital television technology services in the People’s Republic of China.