Commonwealth Bank of Australia

The Australian share market ended a horror week on Friday, down more than 8% in a session that wiped A$106 billion from the value of stocks on the bourse. Last Friday the S&P/ASX200 index fell 8.3% in mid-afternoon trading, losing 360.2 points to plunge to 3960.7, the biggest one-day loss for the ASX200 index. Its affiliate, the All Ordinaries index, had its worst day since the October 1987 crash, losing 8.2%, or 351.9 points, to 3939.4. The ASX200 lost almost 16% for the week, about three times the amount it lost in the week after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed at a fresh three-year low, plummeting 5% as the continuing fallout from the global credit crisis wiped A$56 billion from the value of stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX-200 share index lost 5% yesterday, the biggest one-day fall for both major stock exchange indices since January 22 this year. RBA has said the Australian economy is slowing faster than originally anticipated. Analysts said the sell-off is totally unemotional. Markets across Asia also slumped with 5-10% drop in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai and Jakarta.

Overnight Wall Street closed more than 5% down on growing fears that the spiralling credit crisis would drag the US economy into a recession. While the global financial crisis deepened, RBA cut the interest rate by a full percentage point, double the amount that had been expected.

The Australia share market has fallen sharply with 3pc in minutes of the start of trading this morning, after Wall St tumbled overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down as much as 3.3%, or 148.5 points, to 4391.9 in early trading.

Yesterday the Australian share market closed higher with most of the upside in the financial sector, after news that American billionaire Warren Buffet would buy a $US5 billion slice of investment bank Goldman Sachs. As Buffet is a long term investor with a good record of investing at the right time, people speculate that potentially it's the bottom of financial stocks.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed slightly weaker despite a cut to official interest rates and a drop in the oil price. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 2.3 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 5,116, while the broader All Ordinaries fell five points, or 0.1 per cent, to 5,195. The Australian stock market may continue the decline today with US equities and commodities down overnight.

The Australian stock market has received negative leads from Wall Street on Friday. Oil rose again in anticipation of Hurrican Gustav making landfall in the continental US.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed more than two per cent lower, dragged down by the resource and financial sectors and a weak lead from Wall Street. Banks and financials reacted poorly to news regarding troubled US mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Economists said resource shares are likely to remain under pressure, dragging the rest of the Australian share market down. The Australian dollar is likely to decline further as falling interest rates and commodity prices weigh on the currency.

The Australian share market closed lower on Wednesday, largely attributable to volatility returning to the US financial sector and weaker resource stocks.