'Aussie Nasdaq' bombs on first day

Xero chief executive Steve Vamos with founder and director Rod Drury. Photo / file

It was a horror start for the new S&P/ASX All Technology Index yesterday.

The new index, dubbed the "Aussie Nasdaq" closed down 83.1 points or 4.12 per cent on its first day of trading, outpacing a 2.52 per cent fall on the broader ASX.

The culprit was the coronavirus (COVID-19), which is hitting some players directly, such as high-flying transport and logistics software maker WiseTech, which fell 2.33 per cent, others indirectly through supply chain issues and tech in general on fears of disruption and a slowdown.

All Tech leader Xero was down 4.35 per cent, Afterpay was down 5.1 per cent, Nearmap down 7.89 per cent and online real estate ad player REA Group down 4.04 per cent.

Day two could be equally punishing.

A global sell-off overnight saw the Dow down nearly 1000 points or 3.4 per cent in late trading on fears COVID-19 is spreading.

Spark (down 1.86 per cent) and Gentrack (down 3.93 per cent) were among NZX-listed tech-stocks in the red yesterday as the S&P/NZX 50 Index dropped 216.22 points, or 1.8 per cent, to 11,857.12.

A tech company also provided one of the few bright points, however. Chorus was the only stock on the NZX50 to gain more than 1 per cent, rising 5.6 per cent to $6.73 on the prospect of fatter dividend payouts.