The Australian share market dropped further on Friday amid news that Russia has shelled a Ukranian nuclear power plant, and Wall Street is set for a rocky day ahead too.
Earlier, London's FTSE ended down 2.6 per cent, Germany's DAX lost 2.2 per cent and other majors in the continent saw similar drops.
Wall Street also had wobbly afternoon trade, with all three indices ending in the red. The Nasdaq was the most impacted with a loss of 1.6 per cent.
The ASX 200 followed at the open, and steadily dropped towards lunchtime as news emerged that Russia was firing on a Ukranian nuclear power station.
At 12:30pm AEDT, it was down 1.3 per cent to 7,056 points.
It recovered some ground as Ukraine's state emergency service said the fire in a training building near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had been put out.
It finished down 0.6 per cent to 7,111 points. Overall, it had recovered some ground this week (1.6pc) but was still down on where it was this time last year.
The day's worst-performing stocks were Paladin Energy (-14.8pc) and Zip (-9.4pc).
Oil prices stable at new lows for now
"Equities [were] generally sold off overnight, particularly in Europe," ANZ notes.
"Oil prices seesawed as Ukraine calls for a ceasefire and humanitarian corridors be developed to allow evacuation of its citizens from the bombed cities."
Brent crude soared to an eight-year high yesterday, fuelling concerns that the price at the pump in Australia will soon hit $1.87.
However by 8am AEDT, it was down 2 per cent.
The local currency rose 0.3 per cent, taking it above 73 US cents.
"AUD/USD is trading comfortably above 73 US cents and is on track to end the quarter near our forecast of 74 US cents," CBA said.
"So far, the negative impact of the war on AUD has been brief and modest (AUD temporarily fell by 2 US cents initially).
Meanwhile, the Australian government is calling on superannuation funds to divest from Russia.
"The government welcomes the voluntary actions taken to date by some superannuation funds to divest their Russian assets," a joint statement by the federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Minister for Superannuation Jane Hume said.
"While Australian superannuation funds only have a small exposure to Russian investments in the context of the $3.5 trillion superannuation system, it is important that Australia sends a clear and unequivocal signal that we condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine."
Supply chain issues continue
Meanwhile, the latest statistics from the ABS show that supply chain woes are easing for Australian companies but were still at above-average levels.
Supply chain woes grew into a big issue for many companies, especially retailers and construction companies, during the pandemic.
The latest data for February found more than a third of all businesses were still experiencing disruptions.
“This latest data shows supply chain issues had eased compared to January where nearly half of all businesses (47 per cent) reported having them,” ABS head of industry statistics John Shepherd said.
"But still remained at elevated levels compared to when the survey was last collected in April 2021 [30 per cent]."
The survey found the most common supply chain issue facing businesses was domestic and international delivery delays.
