Rio Tinto down 3% on smallest revenue since 2019
Wesfarmers, Telstra acquire greater than 3%
Air NZ publicizes NZ$100 million buyback
Feb 20 (Reuters) – Australian shares fell 1% of 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 additionally weighing on sentiment.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 1% at 8,334.70, as of 0015 GMT, its weakest stage since January 20. The benchmark is now down greater than 3% since its all-time excessive of 8,615.20 scaled on February 14.
Rio Tinto fell 2.7% to its lowest since February 12, after the world’s greatest iron ore producer reported smallest annual revenue in 5 years that additionally missed analyst expectations. Its full-year unusual dividend payout additionally fell to lowest since 2019.
Fortescue tanked 7% after the world’s fourth-largest iron ore producer reported weaker-than-expected first-half revenue and stated it was reconsidering timeframes for a few of its inexperienced vitality tasks.
That dragged the broader mining index greater than 2% decrease, marking its fourth straight day within the purple. BHP Group additionally fell 2.1%.
Banks slipped greater than 1% to their lowest in six weeks. ANZ Group shed 3% on reporting an increase in mortgage restructuring, which pushed asset impairments to their highest ranges since 2021 within the first quarter.
The remaining three of the “Large 4” fell between 0.8% and three%.
Conglomerate Wesfarmers superior 2.6%, whereas telecom large Telstra gained 4.7% on reporting upbeat first-half income.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index slipped 0.7%. Air New Zealand rose as a lot as 4% after the flag provider introduced a share buyback of NZ$100 million ($57.04 million).
Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.82%. In a single day, the three main Wall Road indexes,, ticked greater. ($1 = 1.5743 Australian {dollars}) ($1 = 1.7532 New Zealand {dollars}) (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Modifying by Rashmi Aich)
