Australian shares inched lower on Monday as losses in banks and energy stocks outweighed gains in miners, while concerns about global economic growth grew after a weak U.S. jobs report and Washington slapped tariffs on dozens of countries.
The S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0.1% to 8,652.50 by 0034 GMT, heading for a third straight session of falls.
Just hours before the August 1 deadline, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing steep tariffs on imports from dozens of countries, including Canada, Brazil, India and Taiwan, pressing ahead with plans to reorder the global economy.
Data on Friday showed that U.S. job growth slowed more than expected in July, raising expectations that the Federal Reserve might have to cut rates in September.
“The markets are subsequently repricing for a bigger growth hit and a larger hiccup to (U.S.) inflation that could make the Fed’s job of supporting the labour market slightly more complicated,” said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at capital.com.
In Sydney, banks slipped 0.7%, heading for a second straight session of fall. The “big four” banks fell between 0.4% and 0.6%.
Energy stocks lost 1.1%, dragged down by falling oil prices after OPEC+ agreed to another large production hike in September.
Woodside Energy and Santos declined 1.9% and 0.4%, respectively.
Miners rose 0.8% on stabilising copper prices as the market assessed a surprise move by Trump to exclude refined metal from 50% import tariffs.
Mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP gained 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.
Gold stocks gained 2.9% after bullion prices jumped on Friday as weak U.S. economic data spurred safe-haven demand.
Gold miner Evolution Mining rose 3.6%.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was flat at 12,726.87.
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