ASX closed red; Weebit Nano soared on product update; Woolworths shares hit by Victoria COVID outbreak

The ASX200 closed 2% lower at 7185.50 on Friday.

Weebit Nano surged on scale of ReRam technology to 28 nanometre.

Woolworths shares hit by staff shortages and potential store closures.

The Australian market tumbled on Friday to close the session 2% lower at 7185.50 as heavy losses for financials, energy and mining stocks weighed down the ASX. For the week, the ASX lost 2.14%, but has gained 9.08% year to date.

The tech sector closed Friday’s session around 1% lower led by EML Payments and Tyro Payments tumbling more than 3% each.

Bitcoin is trading 0.73% higher over the last 24-hours at US$43,890.16 at 4pm AEST.

Semiconductor maker Weebit Nano surged today after announcing the successful scale of its ReRam technology to 28 nanometre in partnership with CEA-Leti. The production development to 28 nanometre is a key step towards the ‘productisation of embedded non-volatile memory (NVM) for applications such as AI, autonomous driving and 5G’.

Making headlines, Woolworths shares took a hit today after the grocery giant reported it is battling staff shortages due to the growing COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria. As some of the clusters identified close contacts at numerous Woolworths stores, the company has been struggling with staff shortages due to forced isolation and may be forced to close the doors at some stores from this weekend should the staff isolation orders continue to grow.

And Australia’s new vaping laws came into effect today in every jurisdiction except South Australia, where it is now illegal to possess a nicotine-based vape product without a prescription from authorised medical professionals.