The Australian sharemarket tumbled on Friday and miners lead the decline after a sell-off in big-name technology stocks on Wall Street overnight dragged major US equity indices lower.

Most sectors lost ground as the S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 64.9 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 7971.6. The Australian dollar was fetching US66.99¢.

Miners, many of which are exposed to China, were among the weakest companies as the prices for key commodities iron ore, gold and copper all fell.

Gold mining shares slumped. Evolution (down 2.2 per cent) and Newmont (down 2.8 per cent) both slid. Index heavyweights BHP (down 2.1 per cent), Fortescue (down 1.9 per cent) and Rio Tinto (down 1.7 per cent) also lost ground.

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After rallying earlier in the week, shares in the big four banks all traded in the red. Westpac fell by 0.9 per cent despite the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority reducing the $1 billion capital add-on applied to the bank by $500 million in response to the bank’s progress in improving its risk governance, culture and risk management.

Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda said the ASX 200 gave back its weekly gain amid heightened US political uncertainty and underwhelming announcements from Chinese officials in their third plenum.

“US political uncertainty is dampening market sentiment,” he said. “Rumours are swirling that US President Joe Biden will withdraw his candidacy over the weekend. Worse, there’s speculation that rather than endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, he’ll throw open the nomination for it to be decided by the Democratic Party, potentially drawing out the uncertainty for another month.”

Rodda also said markets were disappointed by policy measures announced by China. “China remains unwilling to launch major countercyclical policies and directly support the property market, with authorities keeping the bigger picture in mind. In reality, China’s structural issues have no quick fix, and policymakers appear to be sticking to their long-term economic strategy,” he said.