SYDNEY, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The Australian share market has taken a whopping 1 percent drop at the open, with all sectors feeling the heat despite a relatively flat lead in from Wall Street overnight.
At 10:29 a.m. (AEST) Friday, the main S&P/ASX200 index was down 59.70 points, or 1.03 percent, to 5,725.30 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was also down by 56.70 points, or 0.97 percent, to 5,775.50 points.
The losses are across all sectors, with industrials, healthcare, and utilities being the worst hit, while the telecommunications sector has managed to remain almost flat, due to the stable performance of Telstra, which comprises a large chunk of that sector.
Despite the overall losses, there were some big winners to be found in the early going, with AJ Lucas gaining 12.77 percent, online retailer Kogan picked up 4.46 percent, while Cudeco scooted ahead to a 6.78 gain.
With the downswing came some big hits for certain stocks, with medical firm Clinuvel dropping 14.22 percent, surf brand Billabong took a 10.98 percent hit, while Webjet were 7.06 percent lower.
The major banks had a horrid start, with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia down 1.13 percent, Westpac fell 1.20 percent, the ANZ were 1.39 percent lower, while the National Australia Bank fell 1.41 percent.
The miners were also worse for wear, BHP dropped 0.60 percent, Rio Tinto fell by 1.06 percent, Newcrest slid 0.42 percent, while Fortescue were a glimmer of hope for the sector, and gained a healthy 3.72 percent.
In oil and gas, the rising crude price helped slow the losses for some, with Woodside up 0.03 percent, Santos were down 0.74 percent, while OIl Search also fell 0.90 percent.
Grocery giant Woolworths dropped by 0.97 percent, while rivals Wesfarmers fared slightly better, falling by 0.20 percent.
Telco giant Telstra picked up 0.36 percent, while airline Qantas fell 1.21 percent.
One Australian dollar was valued at 79.67 U.S. cents, while crude oil traded at 49.07 U.S. dollar per barrel.
