Australia shares fall by 1.3% amid rising coronavirus cases

Share market in Australia recorded a dip on July 22 after coronavirus cases in the country saw a record surge in the past 24 hours denting investors' morale. According to reports, the S&P/ASX 200 index closed at 6,075.10 on Wednesday, a 1.3 per cent fall compared to a 2.6 per cent rise a day ago. The fall in the share market was driven by the health care sector which recorded a drop of 3.2 per cent, its worst session since May, and the drop was mainly steered by industry giants CSL Ltd and Cochlear as both dropping at nearly 4 per cent.  

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Australia on July 22 logged in 501 new COVID-19 infections, which is the highest ever recorded by the country down under since the disease emerged in March. Australia's Victoria state recorded the most of the 501 cases, almost 97 percent of it. Victoria recorded most cases despite announcing a lockdown for Melbourne suburbs, it largest city, which saw a number of new coronavirus clusters in the past few weeks. Victoria announced lockdown for more than 3,00,000 residents in suburbs north of Melbourne as part of its efforts to slow down the coronavirus spread. According to figures by Johns Hopkins University, Australia has so far recorded nearly 13,000 COVID-19 cases and at least128 deaths.

Read: Australia To Lock Down Over 300k People In Melbourne's Suburbs To Curb COVID-19 Spread

Share dip in other sectors

Meanwhile, the technology and mining sector also recorded a fall at S&P/ASX 200 as their index dropped by 2.4 percent and 1.3 percent respectively. The fall in these sectors was mainly driven by their largest companies Wisetech, Afterplay, and BHP Group, Rio Tinto. New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 also fell as it recorded a 0.1 percent slip to finish the session at 11,722.97 on Wednesday. Restaurant Brands New Zealand along with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp were among the top losers as they logged in 2.5 percent and 2 percent fall respectively. 

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