- Mass testing and lockdown in Shanghai district
has market on edge as metals fall
- China’s official steel industry monitor the CISA says steel was
produced at an astonishing rate of 3.17Mt/day at the end of May
- Terracom flags size of FY22 dividend after major investors converts
US$20m convertible bond to equity
A fresh and unexpected lockdown in Shanghai has delivered a
savage blow to ASX mining stocks, just as the commodities complex was preparing
for a sweet round of Chinese government stimulus to kick in.
The major miners all tumbled in morning trade, sending the
materials index falling 2.5%, with energy stocks even worse off at a 2.57%
loss.
The big iron ore miners all suffered the brunt of the sell-off,
with Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) down
4.27%, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) down 3.12%, Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) off 2.87%
and 1.77% lopped off BHP (ASX:BHP).
Iron ore prices retreated below US$140/t overnight after several
days of promising gains, with both Covid and steel mill profitability a
concern.
Other commodities were similarly bruised.
Copper fell 1.2% to US$9615/t while nickel dropped 2.9% to
US$28,023/t, with zinc, aluminium, platinum group elements and gold all
retreating.
A perfect storm for a market meltdown, with diversified miner South32 (ASX:S32) 4.79% skinnier and
rare earths miner Lynas (ASX:LYC) off a startling 8.03%
as stocks exposed to the China market looked pale and NdPr prices halted a
fortnight long upswing.