Falling commodity prices and a two-week low in oil prices sent ASX shares lower while the Reserve Bank showed little interest in hiking rates amid uncertainty in Europe.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Energy and materials shares fell two and three per cent respectively on Tuesday as commodity prices eased from spikes caused by uncertainty over Russian supply. The Brent crude oil price fell four per cent to $US102.02 per barrel.
The Reserve Bank in its March meeting minutes gave no suggestion of following its peers and raising rates soon.
"The war in Ukraine and the associated increase in energy prices has created additional uncertainty about the inflation outlook," the minutes said.
Another factor in hiking rates, wages growth, remained at modest levels.
The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, is widely tipped to raise rates by a quarter of a per cent this week to combat surging inflation.
Yet Australia could have more reason to pause.
Its biggest trading partner, China, locked down two cities due to a coronavirus outbreak and the nation's zero-COVID strategy.
A total of 5,154 new infections were reported nationwide and the cities of Shenzhen and Changchun were under stay-at-home orders.
Analysts say the lockdowns will impact economic productivity.
In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed down 52 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 7097.4 points.
The index is down about 500 points from its record high in August last year.
The All Ordinaries index closed lower by 66.1 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 7356.1 points.
The losses follow the market's biggest gain in six weeks on Monday.
The big miners were major weights on the indices. BHP and Fortescue lost four per cent each to $45.37 and $17.15 respectively.
Rio Tinto made a $US2.7 billion bid for the remaining 49 per cent of shares in miner Turquoise Hill.
Turquoise Hill digs copper and gold in Mongolia, and Rio Tinto wants a greater share of the mine there.
Rio Tinto was down three per cent to $106.75.
Telecommunications provider Uniti Group shares soared after a takeover offer.
Fund manager HRL Morrison & Co has offered $4.50 per share as part of a bid worth about $3 billion.
Uniti Group was higher by 27 per cent to $4.01.
Shareholders of energy provider Senex voted overwhelmingly for a takeover bid.
The shareholders voted to accept an offer of $4.60 per share from Posco International subsidiary K-A Energy.
Senex was little changed at $4.59.
Pathology and imaging provider Healius declared an on-market share buyback of up to $100 million.
The buyback will take place in the next 12 months.
Healius was up three per cent to $4.45.
The major banks all gained. The Commonwealth Bank and Westpac were best. Each gained one per cent to $103.78 and $23.49 respectively.
Donation software vendor Pushpay gave a more detailed forecast of its full-year earnings.
Underlying earnings are tipped to rise on the previous 12 months by up to 10 per cent and be in a range of $US61.5 million to $US63.5 million.
Pushpay was up four per cent to $1.01.
The Australian dollar was buying 71.85 US cents at 1724 AEDT, lower than 72.55 US cents at Monday's close.
ON THE ASX
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed down 52 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 7097.4 points on Tuesday.
* The All Ordinaries index closed lower by 66.1 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 7356.1 points.
* At 1724 AEDT, the SPI200 futures index was down three points, or 0.04 per cent, at 7094 points.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT
One Australian dollar buys:
* 71.85 US cents, from 72.55 cents on Monday
* 84.99 Japanese yen, from 85.28 yen
* 65.41 Euro cents, from 66.36 cents
* 55.09 British pence, from 56.62 pence
* 106.63 NZ cents, from 106.76 cents.
Australian Associated Press