Australian Markets Tumble On Greek Referendum News

Mr Abbott was spruiking the government’s grocery code of conduct, outside a western Sydney store of supermarket giant Woolworths on Tuesday when he was quizzed by reporters on developments in Europe and China.

On Sunday, Greeks voted in a referendum to reject austerity reforms that Greece’s global creditors had called for in exchange for critically needed bailout funds.

The yuan was little changed in early offshore trading, slipping less than 0.1 percent to 6.2077 per dollar.

The term “Black Friday” is trending on the Business news section of a well-known search engine, but this is not, surprisingly, a reference to stock market crashes we have known and loathed, but some sort of contrived United States shopping event.

The S&P/ASX 200 closed down 63 points or 1.1 per cent to 5475, while the broader All Ordinaries fell 65 points or 1.2 per cent to 5463.3.

The European Commission said in a statement it “respects the result of the referendum” and will now consult with the 18 Eurozone member countries and the heads of the European Union’s institutions over the next two days.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index was down 1.4 percent at 20,263.27 by mid-morning.

This made shares something of a one way bet, and the Composite index finished up 2.4% today, having been up more than 8% at one point.

“This is not driven by the USA where the economy and conditions are relatively stable, it’s really being driven by a host of factors globally – oil, China, Greece and European equities”, said Robert Sinche, a strategist at Amherst Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut.

“We think the market reaction is likely to be sharp at first but then reverse higher in the coming weeks, as long as Eurozone policymakers respond in a proactive way”, he said.

In addition to jawboning the currency, the RBA has sought to reduce the attractiveness of the Australian dollar by cutting its cash benchmark by 2.75 percentage points since late 2011 to a record low 2 per cent. That still leaves it above every other developed-nation peer except for New Zealand and the global hunt for yield remains a source of support for the Aussie.

Spooner said the Greek referendum result now created uncertainty for markets because it was not yet clear whether Greece’s creditors would alter their demands, or whether Greece would end up exiting the eurozone.

Health insurer nib fell 11 cents to $3.36 after it announced a $95 million deal to buy travel insurer World Nomads.

Gains in the resources sector were mor modest, with BHP Billiton adding 24 cents to $26.25, Rio Tinto gaining 58 cents to $51.74, though Fortescue Metals climbed seven cents, or 4.1 per cent, to $1.785.

The US currency rallied along with Treasuries as Greece struggles to put forward an official proposal for aid.