Australian shares retreat as miners lose ground

Australian shares fell on Thursday after a three-session winning run, with index heavyweight miners leading the retreat on weaker commodity prices, while a divided US Federal Reserve left interest rates steady.

The S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0.5% to 8,991.30 by 0033 GMT after closing 1% higher on Wednesday.

Asian stocks struggled for direction amid investor jitters around the AI trade.

The Fed’s decision to keep the benchmark interest rate in the 3.50%-3.75% range was largely expected, with three out of 12 members in favour of a quarter-percentage-point hike.

In Sydney, index heavyweight miners dropped 0.9% on weaker iron ore and copper prices.

Sector giant BHP and Fortescue fell more than 0.6% each. Gold stocks shed 1.1%, with Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources down 0.6% and 1.6%, respectively.

Financials inched 0.1% higher, rising for a seventh straight session.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac climbed between 0.2% and 1.3%.

National Australia Bank said domestic home-loan applications fell 15% in the June quarter, while business lending showed early signs of stress. Its shares rose 0.5%.

Among individual stocks, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises jumped as much as 14.1% and was headed for its best session since late October.

On Wednesday, the company maintained its annual underlying net profit after tax outlook despite write-downs of A$259 million ($180.08 million). New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.9% to 13,850.36, on track for its worst session since June 8.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand appointed Byron Pepper as deputy chair of its board for a four-year term ending June 2030.