ASX finishes down as Afterpay soars – Yahoo Finance Australia

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 (^AXJO) has closed down 0.77 per cent, as virus concerns consumed overseas investors.
The broader All Ordinaries index (^AORD) finished down 0.79 per cent.
But while the share market overall traded in the red, Afterpay rose to a record price of $76.23, though by midday had eased to a gain of 3.61 per cent, to $76.15.
Rival Zip Co also achieved a record, $7.64. It had eased to a gain of 12.84 per cent to be $7.56.
What happened this afternoon?
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 (^AXJO) is trading 0.12 per cent lower at 12:10 AEST to 5,948.5 points, after slipping early increasing virus infections overseas.
The broader All Ordinaries index (^AORD) followed a similar trajectory, dropping 0.14 per cent at 12:11 AEST to 6,066.6 points.
Energy stocks led the share markets decline, trading 1.48 per cent lower after oil prices fell overseas, followed by materials, dropping 0.52 per cent.
Information technology and health posted the biggest gains.
What happened this morning?
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 (^AXJO) opened 0.4 per cent down at 10.20 AEST to hit 5,933.6 points, after two US indices dropped on surging Covid-19 infections and looming business shutdowns.
The broader All Ordinaries index (^AORD) also opened 0.3 per cent lower at 10.20 AEST, trading at 6,056.1 points.
National cabinet is expected to meet today to discuss a proposal from the Prime Minister to cap overseas plane arrivals to ease the pressure on managing them in quarantine.
The meeting comes as Melbourne battles a resurgence in virus cases, having entered six weeks of lockdown earlier in the week.
One Australian dollar was buying 69.57 US cents at 10:21 AEST, down from 69.86 US cents at the close of trade on Thursday.
What happened overnight? 
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones finished lower as the US recorded more than 60,000 new coronavirus infections a single-day global record.
S&P 500 companies are expected to post a more than 40 per cent decline in year-on-year earnings, which would be the biggest quarterly profit drop since the global financial crisis in 2008.
Stocks edged higher at the beginning of trade, as data revealed the number of people in the US filing for unemployment benefits dropped to a near four-month low last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 361.19 points, or 1.39 per cent, to 25,706.09, the S&P 500 lost 17.89 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 3,152.05 and the Nasdaq Composite added 55.25 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 10,547.75 on Thursday.
With AAP.
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