Afternoon update: ASX drops 1.69% as labour market remains tight

The ASX has experienced a significant drop of 1.69 per cent to 6,958.20. This decline is attributed to escalating tensions in the Middle East and an unexpected decrease in the jobless rate for September. The All Ordinaries index has also declined by 1.5 per cent.

Notably, the unexpected fall in Australia's jobless rate for September, which now stands at 3.6 per cent, suggests that the labour market remains tight, adding to the overall uncertainty in the market.

Futures

The SPI futures are down 123 points.

Best and worst performers

All sectors are in the red. The sector with the fewest losses is Utilities, down 0.5 per cent. The worst-performing sector is Consumer Discretionary, down 1.95 per cent.

The best-performing large cap is Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST), trading 3.92 per cent higher at $11.93. It is followed by shares in ResMed (ASX:RMD) and Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN).

The worst-performing large cap is Allkem (ASX:AKE), trading 6.21 per cent lower at $11.02. It is followed by shares in Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) and Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY).

Asian markets

Japan's Nikkei has lost 1.86 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 1.69 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has lost 1.62 per cent.

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1,961.50 an ounce.
Light crude is trading $0.34 lower at US$87.98 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 63.02 US cents.
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Source: Finance News Network