The news: The ASX 200was down in early afternoon trade as energy and financial stocks dragged on the market.
The numbers: The ASX was down 0.74% at 12:22pm AEST, with nine out of 11 sectors in red.
The energy sector was the worst performing (-2.45%), with Woodside (-3.06%), Santos (-2.63%), Beach Energy (-2.92%) and Karoon Energy (-1.71%) leading losses. Yancoal (-1.86%) also fell.
Crude oil was down 3.84% to US$56.05 ($86.70) a barrel, while Brent crude tumbled 3.49% to $59.15 a barrel.
Financials were the second worst performing sector with all the big four banks falling. Westpac (-2.66%) was the worst hit, followed by Commonwealth Bank (-2.23%) NAB (-2.19%) and ANZ (-0.76%).
Earlier today, Westpac posted a fall in half-year profit due to higher expenses and hedging-related impairments which offset growth in lending and deposits.
The context: Oil prices tumbled after eight OPEC+ agreed to another rise in output over the weekend which increased global supplies. The agreement raises output in June by 411,000 barrels per day.
What they said: In a note, ANZ commodity strategists Daniel Hynes and Soni Kumari said: “With the trade war worsening, downside risks to oil prices are high. Under the worst-case scenario, prices for Brent crude could fall as low as USD50/bbl”.
On gas, the strategists said global prices would likely remain under pressure due to fears of weaker demand as trade tensions rose.
The sources: OPEC, ANZ research