Major miners drag the ASX200 down
A sell-off in the major iron ore and gold miners weighed on the ASX 200 on Wednesday, as investors bide their time and await the fallout from the Israel-Iran conflict.
The benchmark ASX 200 index fell 10.1 points or 0.12 per cent to 8,531.2 on a day investors largely stayed on the sidelines.
The broader All Ordinaries also slipped 13.20 points or 0.15 per cent to 8,757.90.
The Australian dollar traded marginally higher up 0.37 per cent to buy 65.03 US cents.
On a day of low trading volume, eight of the 11 sectors finished up, despite the overall market falling.
Overall 104 stocks ending in the red, 86 gaining and 10 remaining unchanged.
But this was not enough to lift the overall market, with a slump in material, utilities and A-REITs offsetting gains in the information technology and healthcare sectors. The major miners slumped dragging the ASX 200 lower. Picture Newswire/ Gaye Gerard. Credit: News Corp Australia
Materials slumped 1.56 per cent on the day with the price of iron ore falling to $US93 a tonne amid sluggish growth forecasts out of China and US steel tariffs.
BHP shares fell 1.18 per cent to $36.86, Fortescue slumped 4.02 per cent to $15.03 and Rio Tinto fell 1.07 per cent to $106.00.
Citi Group has cut its iron ore price forecasts, predicting $US90 a tonne for both the next three months and the next 6–12 months.
ANZ senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said a combination of low demand and high supply was seeing the price of the commodity fall.
'The rainy season has slowed construction activity in southern China. In the north, high temperatures are contributing to a slowdown,' he said.
'Beijing's efforts to curb overcapacity in the steel industry looks to be playing out, with China's steel production falling 6.9 per cent in May.'
Gold miners were also a drag on the ASX, with the price of the underlying commodity also dropping.
Northern Star Resources is down 1.95 per cent to $20.58, Evolution Mining slipped 3.55 per cent to $8.15 and Genesis Mineral slumped 3.00 per cent to $4.53. Despite the ASX falling on Wednesday more stocks finished in the green. NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers Credit: News Corp Australia
It was a mixed day for the big four banks with CBA gaining 0.58 per cent to $180.19 and Westpac eked out a small gain up 0.03 per cent to $33.02.
NAB slipped 0.23 per cent to $38.71 and ANZ finished in the red down 1.43 per cent to $29.04.
Investors remained on the sidelines, with the ASX now only swinging 59 points or 0.70 per cent during the last two and half days of trading until 2.30pm.
IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said the average range on the ASX over the past nine weeks has been 165 points or almost 2 per cent.
'This suggests there is room for some fireworks/movement into the week's end as the spring winds become increasingly tighter,' he wrote in a note.
In company news, shares in Cettire have rallied 10.5 per cent to $0.32, but comes after shares slumped 31 per cent in a single trading day last week on a less than favourable trading update.
Shares in uranium producer Boss Energy rose 4.3 per cent to $4.66 after announcing its operations in South Australia have met its first-year production guidance.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mercury
an hour ago
- Mercury
Barron Trump may have made millions from family's lucrative crypto firm: report
Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News. Barron Trump, the youngest son of the 47th President, may have raked in millions of dollars from the sale of crypto tokens linked to the family's lucrative venture into digital tokens, according to a report. The 19-year-old New York University student could have picked up a cool $40 million (AU$61 million) — $25 million (AU$38 million) after taxes — from the sale of digital assets by World Liberty Financial, the Trump family firm launched nine months ago after Barron persuaded his dad about the benefits of crypto, Forbes reported. 'Barron knows so much about this,' commander-in-chief said during an interview in September after the launch. 'Barron's a young guy, but he knows it — he talks about his wallet. He's got four wallets or something, and I'm saying, 'What is a wallet?'' Barron Trump may have raked in millions. Picture: ANGELA WEISS / AFP. World Liberty has been a financial bonanza for the family. In March, World Liberty announced that it had sold $550 million (AU$850 million) worth of tokens. An Office of Government Ethics filing released by President Trump last week declared he had made $57 million (AU$88 million) from token sales. It also said that the real estate mogul held a 75 per cent stake in his umbrella company, DT Marks Defi LLC, with unnamed 'third parties' holding the other 25 per cent. Barron Trump is listed as a 'co-founder' of World Liberty Financial alongside the president, as well as Eric and Donald Trump Jr, the president's two eldest sons. Forbes, which provided no direct evidence for its claims of Barron Trump's massive digital windfall, suggested that he owned a 7.5 per cent stake in the Delaware-based umbrella firm. The stake would mirror what the NYU freshman holds in the Trump Organization's Washington, DC hotel, Forbes said. The 19-year-old New York University student could have picked up a cool US$40 million. Picture: Jim WATSON / AFP. Barron Trump's name does not appear in the company's solitary SEC filing from October 30 last year. Also listed as business partners in the venture are Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and his son, Zachary. An analysis by Bloomberg, the financial news outlet, estimates the president's net worth has doubled since the start of his 2024 campaign, standing at just over US$5.4 billion This article originally appeared on the New York Post and has been republished with permission Originally published as Barron Trump may have made millions from family's lucrative crypto firm: report
Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
Japan scraps US meeting after defence demands
Japan has cancelled a regular high-level meeting with its key ally the US after the Trump administration demanded it spend more on defence. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had been expected to meet Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and Defence Minister Gen Nakatani in Washington on July 1 for annual security talks. But according to the Financial Times, Tokyo scrapped the meeting after the US asked Japan to boost defence spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product, higher than an earlier request of 3 per cent. Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported on Saturday that President Donald Trump's government was demanding its Asian allies, including Japan, spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence. An unnamed US official told Reuters that Japan had "postponed" the talks in a decision made several weeks ago. A non-government source familiar with the issue said he had also heard Japan had pulled out of the meeting but not the reason for it doing so. The Financial Times said the higher spending demand was made in recent weeks by Elbridge Colby, the third-most senior Pentagon official, who has also recently upset another key US ally in the Indo-Pacific by launching a review of a project to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. In March, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said other nations do not decide Japan's defence budget after Colby called for Tokyo to spend more to counter China, during his nomination hearing. Japan and other US allies have been engaged in difficult trade talks with the United States over Trump's worldwide tariff offensive. The paper said the decision to cancel the July 1 meeting was also related to Japan's July 20 upper house elections, expected to be a major test for Ishiba's minority coalition government. Japan's move comes ahead of a meeting of the US-led NATO alliance in Europe next week, at which Trump is expected to press his demand that European allies boost their defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP.
AU Financial Review
11 hours ago
- AU Financial Review
AWU says Chalmers must put big conditions on $36b Santos takeover
The Australian Workers Union is demanding Labor force Santos' Abu Dhabi suitor to supply more gas to the domestic market and sell four processing plants before it is allowed to buy the country's second-largest oil and gas company in a transaction worth more than $36 billion. The influential union is a key supporter of Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who will decide whether a consortium led by the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, known as ADNOC, can acquire the ASX-listed company.
