The Australian share market fell out of bed today, in line with the Asian region, all sold off hard despite a lack of obvious triggers. Some commentators are pointing to an increase in reserve requirements for Chinese banks, but this news was released well before the sell off began. There is speculation that some big players find this as an attractive level to take profit, but this is just speculation.

The worst affected were the the medium sized companies that have outperformed of late, suggesting that today's action is the correction of an overbought market.

No sector was spared today. Finance, materials and defensives were all down. There were a few bright spots in energy and consumer discretionary, but even these sectors fell on the day. One of the more astounding performances today was Crown. Despite reports of a strike over pay conditions and the general selling its share price rose solidly. Coal producers also fared better than most, with New Hope and Coal and Allied recording gains. The overall market performance was extremely weak, and the index closed near the lows of the day.