Australia's share market has notched a sixth-straight session of losses, falling on reports the US will likely reject an Iranian plan to open the Strait of Hormuz.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 55.7 points on Tuesday, down 0.64 per cent, to 8,710.7, as the broader All Ordinaries slipped 55.8 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 8,935.
The continued slump came as oil prices pushed higher, following reports the US will reject an Iranian proposal to delay nuclear negotiations in order to prioritise the opening to the Hormuz Strait, a choke point for a fifth of global crude supply.
"A pretty ugly day on the Australian exchange, and disappointed given the support we've seen for US shares at the same time," Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy told AAP.
"The rest of the world is adding in significant risk premiums for the disruption coming out of the Middle East, both in terms of the slowing of global growth and the inflationary impulse that's going to come with the higher energy prices."
Miners, retailers, utilities, IT and real estate stocks weighed heavily on the bourse as investor sentiment continued to sour.
The energy segment soared 1.2 per cent, one of only two sectors to end the session higher as oil, gas, coal and uranium stocks advanced.
Whitehaven Coal shares surged 3.9 per cent to $8 after targeting the upper end of 2026 earnings guidance as higher realised prices made up for a handful of lacklustre production figures.
Basic materials dragged on the broader market, as BHP dipped 1.3 per cent to $55.43.
Gold miners also pointed lower, as the yellow metal eased to $US4,625 ($A6,448) an ounce, it's lowest price in three weeks.
Battery minerals and rare earths producers bucked the trend, but not enough to lift the sector into the green.
Financials ended the day slightly above break-even, thanks in part to a 0.9 per cent uplift in CommBank shares to $174.61, counterbalancing weakness elsewhere in the sector.
Utilities stocks tumbled 2.3 per cent as Origin lost almost nine per cent of its value in two days after an earnings guidance cut and subsequent analyst downgrade.
Consumer discretionaries also dropped more than two per cent, tracking losses in Wesfarmers, Aristocrat Leisure, and the Lottery Corporation.
In company news, Domino's Pizza shares crumbled by more than a tenth after a similar dive for its US-listed equivalent after a first-quarter earnings miss.
The Australian dollar is buying 71.64 US cents, down slightly from 71.65 US cents on Monday at 5pm.
The 72 US cent-level was a key historical inflection point for the Aussie, Moomoo's Mr McCarthy said.
"It'll be interesting to see how the Aussie dollar performs here," he said.
"Clearly, there's a lot of optimism in the US that the rest of the world doesn't share about the global outlook, and so the Aussie is sort of caught between a rock and a hard place."
March inflation data is due on Wednesday, with markets expecting sticky price growth will prompt the Reserve Bank to hike the cash rate to 4.35 per cent at its meeting next week.
ON THE ASX:
* The S&P/ASX200 dropped 55.7 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 8,710.7
* The broader All Ordinaries lost 55.8 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 8,935
One Australian dollar trades for:
* 71.64 US cents, from 71.65 US cents at 5pm AEST on Monday
* 114.16 Japanese yen, from 114.11 Japanese yen
* 61.30 euro cents, from 61.09 euro cents
* 53.06 British pence, from 52.94 British pence
* 121.76 NZ cents, from 121.71 NZ cents