The Australian share market has opened lower this morning despite an unprecedented effort to ease the economic effects of the worst financial crisis in decades.
In early trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 2.4%, or 106.4 points, to 4281.7 - a level not seen since December 2005.
Leading the decline was the Commonwealth Bank, which was down as much as 13.2%, or $5.95, to $39.20. The bank, which was in a trading halt yesterday, said it had successfully raised $2 billion from institutional investors for its takeover of BankWest.
A big part of the market's movement is Commonwealth Bank coming back on to the market after being in a trading halt yesterday, said Angus Gluskie of White Funds Management.
Aside from that, investors remain "incredibly nervous" about what's going on in global markets.
"Overnight we haven't seen an improvement in credit spreads and yet we recognise that the moves being taken by central banks around the world are improving fundamentals."
The dollar's 10% plunge over the past 24 hours halted temporary with the Aussie hitting 66.65 US cents.
That's been good news for stocks that generate earnings overseas, Mr Gluskie said.
Health-care stocks and pallet-maker Brambles are being treated favourably. Brambles gained as much as 4.3%, or 32 cents, to $7.67, while ResMed gained as much as 6.4%, or 34 cents, to $5.65 and fellow health-care company CSL gained as much as 90 cents, ot 2.4%, to $38.70.
Health-care stocks gained 1.7% - one of the few positive sectors in the ASX200, according to data from Bloomberg.
Mr Gluskie expressed resignation for the sort of drops hitting global sharemarkets.
"At this stage, we're feeling reasonably used to this because it's gone on for so long."
Six to nine months ago we would have been much more concerned, Mr Gluskie said.
"There's a small level of comfort that a lot of stocks are looking incredibly cheap."
Elsewhere in the financial sector, ANZ was down as much as 1.1%, or 19 cents, to $16.81, NAB lost 2%, or 49 cents, to $23.86, Westpace lost as much as 0.8%, or 17 cents, to $21.50. St George Bank was down as much 0.85%, or 24 cents, to $27.88.
Investment bank Macquarie Group was down as much as 0.9%, or 30 cents, in early trading to $32.20 and Babcock & Brown was down as much as 5.7%, or 6 cents, $1.11.
Second-tier bank Suncorp-Metway was down as much as 1.6%, or 16 cents, to $9.95 and Bank of Queensland was up 4.35%, or 50 cents, to $12.00 on its announcement of $126.8 million in profit.
The US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and Sweden's Riksbank cut their benchmark rates by half a percentage point overnight.
"I think the sharemarket will probably be negative again," said Mark Daniels, fund manager at Aberdeen Asset Management.
"America was in positive territory for about an hour before the close of trading and then sold off again to close down," he said. "I suspect we'll take our lead from the States."
The 250 billion pound ($607 billion) bailout of British banks lead by the Bank of England, announced overnight, along with rate cuts didn't help the FTSE, he said.
Economy slows
Locally, the Rerserve Bank said the Australian economy is slowing faster than originally anticipated.
Jobs numbers for September are due out today. Analysts expect no jobs to have been created last month, down from a 14,600 gain in August.
The economy added jobs for the last three months, according to data from Bloomberg.
Economists foresee the unemployment rate creeping up to 4.3% from 4.1% last month as well.
The lagging indication will give the market a better sense of the slowdown under way in the Australian economy.
In the resources sector, BHP Billiton was up as much as 1.6%, or 49 cents, to $30.39, Rio Tinto was also up 1.6%, or $1.33, to $82.45, but Fortescue Metals was down as much as 6.1%, or 22 cents, to $3.40. Mount Gibson Iron was one of the biggest laggers on the index, losing as much as 20%, or 23.5 cents, to 92 cents.
The gold miners were sharply higher, with Lihir up as much as 11.5%, or 27 cents, to $2.63 and Newcrest up as much as 13.4%, or $3.10, to $26.30.
In the energy sector, Woodside Petroleum lost as much as 1.8%, or 80 cents, to $43.40, as did Santos, down 1.8%, or 27 cents, to $15.04. Nexus Energy lost as much as 20%, or 15.5 cents, to 61cents.
The retailers were mixed, with Woolworths losing as much as 1.6%, or 45 cents, to $27.15 and Wesffarmers down 5%, or $1.27, or $23.98. harvey Norman was up as much as 0.4%, or 1 cents, to $2.79.
Nightmare continues
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 share index lost 5% yesterday, its second-worst day this year.
The Australian dollar has been thrashed in recent weeks as the sense of turmoil has made investors sceptical about Australia's growth prospects.
The Aussie traded at 66.91 US cents in early trade. However, its fall since near-parity with the US dollar in July, puts it at five-year lows.
The banking crisis has forced down expectations for growth in the global economy.
"Against an exceptionally uncertain background, global growth projections for 2009 have been marked down to 3%, the slowest pace since 2002, and the outlook is subject to considerable downside risks," the International Monetary Fund said in a report yesterday.
Earlier the IMF said global growth was on track to hit 3.9% in 2009.
Yesterday, the Australian share market closed at a fresh three-year low, plummeting 5% as the continuing fallout from the global credit crisis wiped $56 billion from the value of stocks.
It was the biggest one-day fall for both major stock exchange indices since January 22 this year.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 230.6 points, or 5%, lower at 4388.1, while the broader All Ordinaries lost 228.1 points, or 5%, to 4369.8.
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