The weakened Australian dollar fell to below US74.52c, its lowest level since 2009 before coming back to US75.1 cents by 11.30am today. Australian shares are also down more than 1 per cent following the country’s resounding rejection of austerity measures by the European Union.
Two of the industry’s leading public companies, Harvey Norman and Breville saw their share price drop by more than 2% , closely followed by JB Hi Fi, which sustained a fall of 1.76%.
However, the Australian dollar is not much changed against the euro at 68 euro cents, with the continent’s common currency holding up roughly as well as the Aussie dollar on global markets despite the further uncertainty generated by the Greek referendum.
The euro has meanwhile, lost around a cent against the US dollar, and fallen even more heavily against the Japanese yen.
Major industry stocks on the ASX
- Harvey Norman: -2.08% to $4.47
- Breville: 78% to $6.30
- JB Hi Fi : -1.76%to $49
- Telstra: -0.3% to $6.11
- Wesfarmers: -1.1% to $39.31
- Woolworths: -1.5% to $27.21
The Australian share market took an early hit as it was the first to open after the news, but perhaps not as big as many analysts had feared.
Market analysts had warned that shares globally, including in Australia, could be hit hard by a “no” vote.
“Markets hate surprises, or they react to surprises, and so we’ve seen this morning a flight out of Europe.”