Staff writers

Updated November 6, 2026 — 11:03am , first published November 6, 2026 — 5:11am

The Australian sharemarket has slumped at the open after a brutal selloff swept through Wall Street, led by stocks tied to the buildout of AI data centres.

The S&P/ASX 200 fell by 1.5 per cent in the first five minutes of trade but has clawed back some of the early losses to be down 89.1 points, or 1 per cent, to 8976 at 10.35am AEDT.

Stock markets worldwide felt pressure from continued drops for companies that benefited from the boom in the artificial-intelligence technology industry. AP

Mining stocks have tumbled with BHP falling 5 per cent, Rio Tinto 4 per cent and Fortescue 3.2 per cent. Gold miners have also slumped, with Northern Star down 3.6 per cent and Evolution 4 per cent lower.

Technology stocks have fallen across the board on the back of the meltdown on Wall Street’s Nasdaq index.…