Australia’s share market has had a depressing end to the week, slumping by over half a percentage point after two record-high days.
The ASX200 closed lower on Friday, dropping 52.30 points or 0.70 per cent to 7,403.60.
The fall came after two consecutive days where a new 100-day high was recorded, with most sectors receiving a boost from the market on Wednesday and Thursday.
It was a different story on Friday with nine of the eleven sectors ending lower.
Worst-off was real estate which was down 1.74 per cent followed by materials which fell 1.07 per cent and consumer discretionary which fell 0.98 per cent.
The poor performance in consumer discretionary stocks follows new data from the ABS that shows retail spending took a sharp decline in June.
Retail turnover fell 0.8 per cent in June 2023, according to figures released on Friday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The recent figures reversed a 0.8 per cent rise in turnover in May and added to a 0.1 per cent fall in April.
Utilities and energy managed to end the week on a high, scraping through to the green before close of business.
Some firms managed to escape the tumble, led by health company Pro Medicus which saw its price rise 1.97 to $69.28 followed by Insignia Financial which rose 1.71 per cent to $2.98 and BlueScope Steel which rose 1.56 per cent to $21.48.
Not everyone was so lucky, with Regis Resources topping the losers list with a fall of 8.31 per cent to end the day at $1.71.
That was followed by Capricorn Metals which fell 8.09 per cent to $4.43 and Perpetual Limited which dropped 7.11 per cent to $24.06.
The big miners also ran into trouble on Friday, with Fortescue tumbling by 5.41 per cent to $21.68 a share after it released its quarterly production update.
Meanwhile Rio Tinto dropped 1.00 per cent to $116.62 and BHP was down 0.82 to $45.80
There was only one big bank ending the week on a high, with Macquarie Group up 0.96 per cent to end trading at $176.71.
Meanwhile the four majors saw a drop led by Commonwealth Bank which fell 0.97 per cent to $105.50 then NAB down 0.31 per cent to $28.38.
Westpac dropped 0.31 per cent to $22.28 while ANZ declined 0.08 to $25.76.
The grim day on the ASX200 follows US Stock markets which also saw declines overnight.
The S&P500 dropped 0.6 per cent while the Dow Jones sank 0.7 per cent and the Nasdaq fell 0.5 per cent.