ASX 200 falls for third straight session after Wall St sell off and mining tumble

The Australian sharemarket fell for its third straight session on Thursday, dragged down by Wall St, inflation fears and a tumble at BHP.

The Australian sharemarket fell for its third straight session on Thursday, dragged down by a Wall St sell off, inflation fears and a tumble at BHP.

The benchmark ASX 200 fell 37.4 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 7628.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index slipped 39.8 points, 0.5 per cent, to 7895.9.

Tech stocks fared better, lifting 12.9 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 3049.4.

The fall followed a negative session on Wall St overnight, which saw the Dow Jones tumble 411 points, or 1.06 per cent, to 38,441 and the S&P 500 index fall 0.74 per cent, to 5266.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Index fell 0.58 per cent to 16,920.

Weak demand for US bonds propelled the sell-off and mixed with a growing fear the US Federal Reserve Bank could hold rates higher for longer to tame persistent inflation.

“The catalyst was a treasury auction in the US,” Capital.com senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda said.

“It was met with fairly weak demand and it stoked fear in the market that has existed for the better part of two years, just about how the US will fund its fairly significant deficit.

“The concern is there may not be the demand for US government bonds at current levels and therefore yields will have to rise to compensate investors adequately for the risks they wish to take.

A fall in mining giant BHP sent the market lower on Thursday. Picture: NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

“We have seen this really broad based decline in equity prices and it’s coming into this inflation data tomorrow night, which is fairly significant because we’ve seen markets again pricing out the prospect of rate cuts in the US this year on that sort of fear of stubborn inflation.”

On the local bourse, six of 11 industry sectors ended in the red, led by materials with a sharp 1.86 per cent decline.

Diversified giant BHP propelled the fall with a 1.73 per cent tumble to $44.30 a share after announcing it had abandoned its $74bn bid for rival Anglo American.

In a statement to the ASX, chief executive Mike Henry said the Big Australian would maintain a “disciplined approach” to mergers and acquisitions.

A fall in iron ore prices to $115 per tonne also hit the big miners, with Rio Tinto dropping 1.54 per cent to $127.66 and Fortescue plunging more than three per cent to $24.78.

Coal stocks also fell sharply, led by Whitehaven Coal with a 2.12 per cent fall to $7.85.

Coronado Global Resources dived 3.59 per cent to $1.08 and Stanmore Resources fell 1.58 per cent to $3.11, while smallcap Terracom Resources plunged 6.67 per cent to 21c.

The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.49 per cent on May 30, 2024. Picture: NewsWire / Christian Gilles

The energy sector fell 1.4 per cent on concerns surging US yields would slow economic growth and crimp oil demand, IG markets analyst Tony Sycamore said.

Woodside Energy fell 1.16 per cent to $27.15, Santos slumped 1.83 per cent to $7.49 and Beach Energy slipped 0.59 per cent to $1.68.

The big banks

In corporate news, sports company Catapult Group leapt nearly 10 per cent to $1.70 after reporting a 20 per cent boost in revenues to $100m.

Beef producers recorded a mixed day on the news China will lift its ban on Australian beef imports.

Australian Agricultural Company surged 2.84 per cent to $1.45 while Elders dipped 0.61 per cent to finish at $8.15 after rising in morning trading.

The top gainer on the ASX200 was Pro Medicus, which lifted 3.6 per cent to $120.07 a share, while the largest laggard was Regis Resources, which dived 6.51 per cent to $1.79.

The dollar lost 0.16 per cent against the Greenback to buy US66.6c at the closing bell.

Originally published as ASX 200 falls for third straight session after Wall St sell off and mining tumble