Headline indices of the Australian share market declined on Wednesday 21 November 2018, hitting a new 21-month low, as risk sentiments weighed by following overnight losses on European and U.S. markets amid rising growth concerns, plummeting crude oil prices, trade concerns, and fresh signs that the local economy is struggling. Most of ASX issues declined, with financial, energy, and mining stocks among the major decliners. In late afternoon trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropped 28.29 points, or 0.5%, to 5,643.40 points points, while the broader All Ordinaries index declined 36.54 points, or 0.63%, to 5,722.70 points.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as stocks showed another significant move to the downside on Tuesday, sending the tech-heavy NASDAQ to its lowest closing level in over seven months. The continued weakness on Wall Street reflected disappointing earnings news from companies such as Target (TGT), Kohl's (KSS) and Victoria's Secret parent L Brands (LB). A continued decline by Apple (AAPL) also weighed on the markets. The Dow plunged 551.80 points or 2.21% to 24,465.64, while the NASDAQ shed 119.65 points or 1.70% to 6,908.82 and the S&P 500 fell 48.84 points or 1.82% to 2,641.89.

Crude oil prices on Wednesday clawed back some of the previous day's more than 6% fall, supported by a report of an unexpected drop in U.S. commercial crude inventories as well as record Indian crude imports. But investors remained on edge, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) warning of unprecedented uncertainty in oil markets due to a difficult economic environment and political risk. International Brent crude oil futures were at $63.42 per barrel at 0157 GMT, up 89 cents, or 1.4% from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures, were up 70 cents, or 1.3%, at $54.13 a barrel. Wednesday's gains came after a report by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories had fallen unexpectedly by 1.5 million barrels, to 439.2 million barrels, in the week to Nov. 16. Yet Wednesday's bounce was small in the context of general market weakness, which saw crude tumble by more than 6% at $53.43 a barrel, the lowest settlement price in 13 months, the previous session amid a selloff in global stock markets.

Shares of major miners were lower after metal prices took another hit overnight. BHP, the country's second biggest company by market value, fell 2.6% and Rio Tinto was down 2.6%. Fortescue Metals, BlueScope Steel and South32 were down as the price of iron ore continued to fall.

Shares of energy companies declined after crude oil prices plunged sharply on Tuesday as rising concerns about the global economic outlook outweighed optimism of production cuts by OPEC and allies. Beach Energy was down more than 9%. Sector heavyweight Woodside Petroleum dipped 0.1%, meanwhile Oil Search and Santos were lower in a range of % to 4%.

Shares of banks and financials were lower. In the banking sector, ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac were lower in a range of 0.4% to 0.8%.

Healthcare was the only bright spot for the bourse after the sector giant CSL jumped 0.9% and Sonic Healthcare also lifted on a stronger earnings report.

On the economic front, The Westpac-Melbourne Institute leadingindex, which indicates the likely pace of economic activity three to nine months into the future, fell from 0.41% in September to just 0.08% in October. Westpac's chief economist, Bill Evans, said: “With this latest slowdown, the index growth rate continues to point to slowing momentum into the New Year. He blamed weak wages growth, falling property prices in Sydney and Melbourne and a very low savings rate for the poor outlook for consumer spending.

In addition, the NAB monthly cashless retail sales index published on Wednesday said data mapping suggested that the official Australia Bureau of Statistics measure of retail sales would grow at a worse-than-expected 0.2% month-on-month in October.

CURRENCY: Australian Dollar declined against greenback and other major currencies on Wednesday, as demand for commodity linked unit dimmed amid uncertainty about the outlook for the global economy along with uncertainty about the potential for a trade deal between the U.S. and China. Meanwhile, drop in base metal prices also crushed demand for commodity linked currency.The Australian dollar was quoted at 72.14 US cents, down from 72.76 cents on Tuesday.