The ASX has fallen sharply today, down 2.95% to 6992.80, one of its worst performances in two years.
The Russia-Ukraine tension caused a global sell off overnight.
The S&P 500 moved into correction territory, closing 1.8% lower.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.4% and the Nasdaq tumbled 2.6%.
Most major benchmarks in Europe and China also declined. European stocks futures have sees accelerated selling in after-hours trade, while DAX futures were down ~3.4% at time of writing.
The UK was the only market to come out clean overnight (let’s see what happens when they wake up).
It’s not surprising as Russia officially attacked Ukraine as Thursday’s sun came up in the region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation at 5am. At the same time, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres spoke in New York pleading to calm tensions in the region.
“Stop your troops from attacking Ukraine,” Mr Guterres said.
The pleas were always going to fall on deaf ears.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had been expecting it.
“The whole world is saying this can happen any day now. The trigger can appear any minute,” he said, speaking in Russian.
“You are being told this fire will free the Ukrainian people. But Ukrainian people are free.”
In addressing the Russian people, Zelensky said: “Not as a president. I address Russian citizens as a citizen of Ukraine,” he said.
“There are over 2000 kilometres of common border between us. Your army is along that border now. Almost 200,000 soldiers. Thousands of military vehicles.
“Your leadership approved for them to take a step further, to the territory of another country.
“This step can become a beginning of a great war at the European continent.”
Explosions have been heard in the separatist-held eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk, a Reuters witness said, as well as near Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
The Russia president has warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to “consequences they have never seen.”
Economic pain is coming for those who stand with Ukraine
Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst, Asia Pacific, for currency broker OANDA says, “If the Ukraine situation forces central banks to halt policy normalisation efforts, a stagflationary shock to the world is on the way.
“That won’t be good for equities, high yield credit, EM currencies, anything European or risk sentiment currencies such as the New Zealand dollar,” he said.
“Either the Ukraine gets thrown under the Russian tank tracks in a gross act of appeasement, or the rest of the world aligned against Russian aggression will have to wear some economic pain.”
Oil, gold and bonds all spike
In the bedlam of what looks to be a full-scale invasion, oil, gold and government bonds have spiked.
Brent Crude Oil (LSE:BRENT) futures rise 4.7 per cent to a 7.5-year high of $US102.08.
Brent crude oil has now surpassed $US100 a barrel for the first time in eight years. Brent crude oil was $US100.11 a barrel at 3pm AEDT, the highest rate since September 2014.
Just two years ago, oil hit a low of $US15.98 a barrel during the initial Covid-19 wave.
Meanwhile, spot gold has risen 2.1% to an 8-month high of US$1949.03 and US 10-year bond yields dropped 12bps to 1.8577%.
ASX hit hard
All sectors are down today by more than 1%.
Tech has been the hardest hit, losing 5.9%. Materials is down 4.2% and consumer discretionary fell 3.6% pacing the falls.
Just 20 companies on the ASX 200 are in positive territory, including Cimic Group Ltd up 33.4% after the company received a takeover bid from Hochtief.
Leading the falls were Life360 Inc at 29.98% and Appen Ltd down 27.42% on weak full-year results.
BHP Group Ltd fell 6.49% and was responsible for a loss of 51.83 points from the index after the company went ex-dividend.
Commonwealth Bank (-2.1%), Macquarie (-5.3%), ANZ (-3.5%), NAB (-2.6%) led a bad day for the banks.
Qantas Airways (ASX:QAN) Limited fell 5.2% following the company reporting a loss of $1.3 billion in the first-half, and Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd dropped 10.2% to $18.08 amid its result.
On the small cap front:
A few of the small cap stocks that finished higher on a generally lacklustre day include: