Australian shares fell 1% in their fourth consecutive session of losses on Thursday, as iron ore mining giants Rio Tinto and Fortescue slumped to multi-week lows after reporting weaker-than-expected earnings, with banks also weighing on sentiment.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 1% at 8,334.70, as of 0015 GMT, its weakest level since January 20.
The benchmark is now down more than 3% since its all-time high of 8,615.20 scaled on February 14.
Rio Tinto fell 2.7% to its lowest since February 12, after the world’s biggest iron ore producer reported smallest annual profit in five years that also missed analyst expectations.
Its full-year ordinary dividend payout also fell to lowest since 2019. Fortescue tanked 7% after the world’s fourth-largest iron ore producer reported weaker-than-expected first-half profit and said it was reconsidering timeframes for some of its green energy projects.
That dragged the broader mining index more than 2% lower, marking its fourth straight day in the red.
BHP Group also fell 2.1%. Banks slipped more than 1% to their lowest in six weeks.
ANZ Group shed 3% on reporting a rise in mortgage restructuring, which pushed asset impairments to their highest levels since 2021 in the first quarter.
The remaining three of the “Big Four” fell between 0.8% and 3%. Conglomerate Wesfarmers advanced 2.6%, while telecom giant Telstra gained 4.7% on reporting upbeat first-half profits.
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In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index slipped 0.7%.
Air New Zealand rose as much as 4% after the flag carrier announced a share buyback of NZ$100 million ($57.04 million). Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.82%.
Overnight, the three major Wall Street indexes,, ticked higher.
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