RIO Rio Tinto Plc

   By Robb M. Stewart 
 

MELBOURNE, Australia--Australian shares fell sharply Monday, erasing last week's gains, as investors worried about the pace of global growth in the wake of last week's U.S. Federal Reserve decision to leave interest rates unchanged.

It was the sharpest one-day fall for the market in more than a week, snapping advances in each of the last three sessions, as most markets across the region faltered.

The S&P/ASX 200 lost 104.3 points, or 2%, to end at 5066.2.

"The Australian market traded lower from the get-go," Tony Kwok, a sales trader at CMC Markets in Sydney, said. "The commentary from the Federal Reserve last week has truly shaken investors' outlook on the economic health of the world economy."

Mining and energy shares were caught up in the global-growth worries, at a time when several of Australia's biggest commodity exports have excess supplies. Banking stocks were also down steeply in a broad selloff, as threats to the local economy, including the property market, appeared to weigh on the minds of investors, said Angus Nicholson, a market analyst at IG in Melbourne.

"With the outlook for financials, materials and the energy sectors all fairly negative over the next few months, we are unlikely to see the ASX returning to its April-May highs just below the 6000 mark, and indeed a significant break below 5000 could well be in the offing," Mr. Nicholson said.

Among energy shares, Woodside Petroleum was down 2.9% and Papua New Guinea-focused takeover target Oil Search was 0.1% lower, while Origin Energy was 3.8% weaker and AWE lost 2.8%.

Mining heavy weights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were down 2.5% and 2.9%, respectively, while Fortescue Metals Group lost 4.1% and OZ Minerals declined 2.8%.

Shares in the major banks were each lower, with National Australia Bank off 1.9%, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group down 2.4%, Westpac Banking down 2.8% weaker and Commonwealth Bank of Australia down 2.9%.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 21, 2015 02:56 ET (06:56 GMT)

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