The Australian sharemarket hit a nine-week low, closing at 7369.5, with every sector and approximately 95 per cent of listed equities in the red.
The market started at its highest levels at the start of the session and then continued to fade for the rest of the day, in contrast to recent market activity.
Investors had hoped for a bounce driven by optimism following NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s daily 11am press conference, during which she confirmed broad freedoms for the fully vaccinated would kick in on the first Monday after the state reaches a double-dose vaccination rate of 70 per cent.
Speaking at Thursday’s market close, CommSec explained why the news from NSW had done little to stop the market bleeding.
“(It is) something people in NSW have been looking forward to but keep in mind this is still a way off,” the major brokerage said on its Thursday end-of-day podcast, highlighting there was still some time before reopening would give benefit to the economy.
“That seems to be about 30 to 50 days away at the moment.”
Furthermore, it was highlighted that an end to lockdown would not equate to a complete return to pre-lockdown norms, suggesting that this would take some time.
“There is still an expectation that it would still be a difficult couple of months ahead and won’t be a straightforward affair once that is the case as well,” it said.
The optimism of the NSW update was also dented by doubts that vaccines alone are the key to moving past the pandemic.
“We had worries around the slowdown in global growth, especially because of Delta and even in countries that currently have relatively high vaccination rates,” CommSec said.
The UK, which has a full inoculation rate of 80.4 per cent amongst adults, has not ruled out a “firebreak” lockdown should the National Health Service be overwhelmed by rising case numbers.
The ASX saw some early recovery on Friday, with early highs of 7,430.0 in morning trading, as NSW reported a record 1,542 COVID-19 cases.
The exchange closed at 7,406.6, still down on Wednesday’s close of 7,512.0.
