The local share market has fallen on fears about China's property market and as US bond yields hit their highest level in 16 years, pressuring equities.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Tuesday closed down 38.3 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 7,038.2, while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 40.3 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 7,238.3.
US 10-year Treasury bond yields hit 4.56 per cent, their highest level since October 2007, as the Federal Reserve's higher-for-longer stance on interest rates continued to reverberate.
"Rising long-term bond yields show markets are adjusting to risks in the new regime of greater macro and market volatility," BlackRock wrote in a market update.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, said it thought yields could rise further still.
In China, struggling property developer Evergrande postponed a creditors' meeting as reports circulated that its top executives had been taken into custody by mainland authorities.
Nine of the ASX's 11 sectors finished lower, with materials the worst laggard, falling 1.7 per cent as iron ore prices dropped amid fears about China's economy.
BHP fell 1.9 per cent to $43.30, Fortescue dropped 2.1 per cent to $20.11 and Rio Tinto finished 2.0 per cent lower at $110.90.
Coronado Global Resources gained 2.2 per cent to $1.88 as Czech-based investment group Sev.en Global Investments agreed to acquire the Energy & Minerals Group's 51 per cent stake in the coking coal producer.
Sev.en CEO Alan Svoboda called Coronado a "global leader in metallurgical-coal mining" and said the acquisition would support its business strategy.
The big four banks finished mostly higher, with ANZ rising 0.4 per cent to $25.09, CBA adding 0.2 per cent to $100.08 and NAB edging 0.1 per cent higher at $28.88.
Westpac was the outlier, dipping 0.3 per cent to $21.05.
Suncorp finished up 0.8 per cent to $14.18 as the financial institution announced the CEO of its banking arm would depart at year-end for another role.
Suncorp is fighting to sell the bank to ANZ for $4.9 billion, a move opposed by the competition regulator.
Pro Medicus was buoying the health care sector, soaring 12.4 per cent to an all-time high of $80.01 after a large Texas-based hospital chain, Baylor Scott & White Health, signed a $A140 million, 10-year deal to move its legacy radiology and cardiology imaging systems onto Pro Medicus' cloud-based platform.
"Our pipeline remains strong and spans all market segments," CEO Dr Sam Hupert said.
"As has been the case with many of our recent contracts, this deal is for our 'full stack' comprising all three of our Visage products, namely viewer, workflow and archive, a trend we see continuing."
Uranium stocks continued their strong run, with Deep Yellow up 6.2 per cent to a nearly two-year high of $1.28 and Paladin Energy up 3.8 per cent to an all-time high of $1.085.
A supply crunch has sent the price of the radioactive metal to levels not seen since Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
The Australian dollar meanwhile had fallen back under 64 US cents, hitting a five-day low against its US counterpart.
The Aussie was buying 63.99 US cents, from 64.22 US cents at Monday's ASX close.
Markets will be closely watching as the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases August consumer price data on Wednesday.
A lift in oil prices is expected to contribute to inflation ticking back up from the previous month's 4.9 per cent readout.
ON THE ASX:
* The S&P/ASX200 index finished Tuesday 38.3 points lower at 7,038.2, a drop of 0.54 per cent.
* The All Ordinaries fell 40.3 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 7,238.3.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 63.99 US cents, from 64.22 US cents at Monday's ASX close
* 95.43 Japanese yen, from 95.30 Japanese yen
* 60.52 Euro cents, from 60.36 Euro cents
* 52.59 British pence, from 52.47 British pence
* 107.61 NZ cents, from 107.93 NZ cents
