ASX 200 slips as soaring oil prices and rate hike fears hit market

After locking in five months of straight gains, the ASX 200 started September on the back foot – with a jump in oil prices and fears of a rate hike hitting the national stock market.

The benchmark ASX 200 slid 9.30 points or 0.10 per cent to 9066.70, after falling by as much as 52 points during the early trading.

Meanwhile, the broader All Ordinaries slipped 10.50 points or 0.11 per cent to 9260.90.

On an overall weak day of trading seven of the 11 sectors finished lower, led by falls in consumer stocks and technology.

Leading the falls in consumer stocks was Wesfarmers, which slumped 2.97 per cent to $77.08, while Harvey Norman fell 2.57 per cent to $4.17 and JB Hi-Fi slipped 0.49 per cent to $66.57.

The supermarket giants also fell, with Woolworths down 2.43 per cent to $39.33 and Coles fell 1.50 per cent to $23.68.

It was a mixed day for the major four banks, with Commonwealth down 0.47 per cent to $159.15, National Australia Bank dragged 0.34 per cent to $38.50, Westpac dropped 0.55 per cent to $34.36 and ANZ bucked the trend up 0.38 per cent to $37.34.

Offsetting the decline was a jump in energy providers, due to renewed strikes between the US and Iran.

Woodside shares added 0.86 per cent to $32.70, Santos shares jumped 1.72 per cent to $8.28 and Ampol climbed 1.72 per cent to $43.80.

The US and Iran exchanged fire for the first time in a month, with missiles and drones fired at Iran’s rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz, which led benchmark Brent Crude oil up to as high as $US91 ($A127) a barrel.

US President Donald Trump told reporters in the White House that his navy had taken over the critical Strait of Hormuz.

“Many, many ships got through last night. As you know, with the navy’s assistance, and we’ve been averaging 30 ships a night,” he said.

Since February Washington and Tehran have fought for control of the waterway which prior to the war, had around 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas pass through the key shipping lane.

This followed comments made earlier in the day after Iran announced strikes