The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) started last week strongly, continuing the upward trend of the past month. However, in a sign of the fragility in the markets, the ASX 200 then fell by 4.9% from the close of trading on Wednesday to the close of trading on Friday, leaving the week with very few ASX winners. This was in response to the largest fall in US markets since March.
The sectors below were home to some of last week's biggest ASX winners and losers.
Insurance and Financials
There were few ASX winners across the financials sector during last weeks trading. Insurance and diversified financials were hit particularly hard.
Two ASX 200 shares that led the plunge in the insurance sector were QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE) and Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN). The QBE share price retreated by 13.17% and Suncorp shares fell by 13.49%.
Across the broader financial sector, the Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX: NWL) share price fell by 7.9% and lender Credit Corp Group Limited (ASX: CCP) saw a 11.52% share price drop.
Over in the buy now pay later sector, the Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price rose by 5%. However, after a recent surge in the Openpay Group Ltd (ASX: OPY) share price, it plummeted last week by 30.4%.
Real Estate
Real estate was again the heaviest traded sector across the ASX large cap companies. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (ASX: URW), the European-domiciled shopping centre operator, saw its share price fall by 20%. Of the A-REITs focused largely on the Australian market, it was the Scentre Group (ASX: SCG) share price that recorded the largest fall of 12.6%.
Tourism and Entertainment
One sector hit hard last week by continued uncertainty over the coronavirus was tourism. The Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) share price was down 15.9%, and the Event Hospitality and Entertainment Ltd (ASX: EVT) share price fell by 16.3%.
Gold
The gold mining sector has seen continual share price falls over the past 2 weeks. However, as the market slid on Thursday and Friday, the share prices of gold mining companies again started to rise. Most gold companies finished the week either on par or slightly lower.
Bellevue Gold Ltd (ASX: BGL) has been cutting a counter cyclical path over the past 3 months. Investors have supported Bellevue across market rises and falls, with Bellevue shares finishing last week up by 16.34%.
Foolish takeaway
The pull back across the financial and tourism sectors shows how fragile the market is at the moment. Capital moved again to defensive sectors and into the gold mining companies. On Sunday, China announced it had a new wave of coronavirus diagnoses. For the foreseeable future, I personally intend to invest only in companies that are least impacted by the virus.
