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Category: Iron Ore / Markets

Spot iron ore price rise fails to boost local market

Tuesday, 8 Mar 2016 16:42:06 | Justine Parker

The main board of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in Sydney displays the main losses for the day on August 24, 2015. (Getty Images: Daniel Munoz)

The share market has closed lower for the first time in more than a week, with only grocery and industrial stocks making any headway.

The market jumped at the open after a record rise in spot iron ore prices, and strength in oil, but dipped into the red soon after.

The All Ordinaries index lost 0.7 per cent to close at 5,170 while the ASX 200 index fell by 35 points to finish on 5,108.

Mining stocks seesawed after the iron ore price soared nearly 20 per cent overnight to more than $US62 US a tonne.

The record rise came after Chinese leaders boosted the outlook for steel consumption at their national congress on the weekend.

Iron ore miners initially rose then fell, as traders assessed the outlook for iron ore.

Rio Tinto lost 2.6 per cent to $45.26 and BHP Billiton fell by 1.8 per cent to $18.21.

Fortescue Metals had the biggest fall of the bigger players, retreating from a more-than-one-year high to close down 9.4 per cent at $2.79.

Regulators are likely to look into trading in Fortescue shares after it soared by nearly 24 per cent yesterday to reach that high.

This morning, the miner announced a deal to pursue joint ventures with the world's biggest iron ore producer, Brazil's Vale.

Fortescue said there was nothing odd about the big share price spike.

Business confidence holds steady

In financial stocks, the big banks all lost ground, with ANZ faring the worst, down 2 per cent to $24.98.

Meanwhile, NAB's monthly business survey showed business conditions strengthened last month, led by services industries, and business confidence held steady.

NAB said the result suggested the volatility on financial markets earlier this year had not been overly disruptive.

In currencies, the Australian dollar slipped against most major counterparts after hitting an eight-month high against the greenback driven by that historic spike in the iron ore price.

Just after 5:00pm (AEDT) it was buying 74.3 US cents, 67.4 euro cents, 84.1 Japanese yen and 52.1 British pence.

Spot gold was higher at $US1,270 an ounce while oil was lower after overnight gains, with Brent crude falling to $US40.31 a barrel.

AustraliaPlus


 

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