ASX falls most in 10 weeks as banks weigh; Rinehart wins on MP Materials, Iluka, Nuix, DroneShield up

Rio down on weak day for miners as investors digest mixed June quarter report, CEO update. G8 selloff continues on fresh alleged Vic offender update. DroneShield soars to another record high. Boost for Gina Rinehart's US, Aussie rare earths bets.

A number of updates from Pilbara iron ore giant Rio Tinto are on investor radars, underpinning Wednesday trading sentiment.

That's all from the Trading Day blog for Wednesday, July 16. The ASX 200 index closed down 0.8 per cent at 8561.8 points on  broad based falls with financials weakest.

Wall Street's Nasdaq index hit a new record with its 0.2 per cent gain, powered by AI chip giant Nvidia's gains, but the Dow Jones index slumped nearly 1 per cent on big bank declines and the S&P 500 shed 0.4 per cent.

Cryptocurrency giant bitcoin is near $US117,400 ahead of three crypto policy bills being considered by the US Congress this week. The digital currency market leader hit a record above $US123,000 earlier this week, according to Coindesk data.

The Aussie dollar is trading around US65.23c.

Originally published as ASX falls most in 10 weeks as banks weigh; Rinehart wins on MP Materials, Iluka, Nuix, DroneShield up