Stocks fall below 4,000 point barrier as Asian markets decline: Afternoon market insights

The Australian sharemarket fell below the psychologically significant 4,000 mark today, wiping out the gains of the past few weeks.

At 3.30pm, the ASX200 was down 0.81% to 4015.5, while the broader All Ordinaries lost 0.82% to 4060.3.

Tim Waterer, a senior trader at CMC Markets, said the markets had become jaded at the approach of another “non-event” EU summit this week.

“With low expectations of something meaningful coming from the EU leaders, the tendency of traders is to play it safe and give higher yielding assets a wider berth for the time being.”

“The Australian Dollar’s stay above parity is again looking tenuous given the negativity brewing over the global growth outlook,” he added.

The Australian dollar gave up its weekend gains today, trading just above parity at $US1.00355.