Australia: Shares drop over 1% on BHP losses, Covid-19 worries

[BENGALURU] Australian shares saw their biggest fall in about one-and-a-half months on Thursday, hurt by a slide in global miner BHP Group and other mining stocks, with persisting worries around the coronavirus denting sentiment further.

The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 1.1 per cent to 7,444.3 by 0046 GMT and was set to decline for a second straight day.

Miners, down 3.1 per cent, extended their losses for a third straight day and hit their lowest in one-and-a-half weeks.

BHP Group, which is presently trading ex-dividend, dropped as much as 7.4 per cent to notch its biggest one-day drop since May 1, 2020.

The world's biggest miner on Aug 17 said it will pay a final dividend of US$2 per share, totalling US$10.1 billion.

Weighing on miners further were weaker iron ore prices, with Rio Tinto and Evolution Mining falling 0.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

Biotechnology company CSL and Australia's biggest supermarket chain Woolworths Group, which are both trading ex-dividend, dropped 2 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Australian authorities extended on Wednesday a lockdown in the country's second most populous city, Melbourne, for another three weeks, shifting their focus to rapid vaccination drives.

Among other stocks and sectors, the gold index fell, with Ora Banda Mining shedding 5 per cent and Geopacific Resources losing as much as 6.3 per cent.

Heavyweight financials dropped 0.4 per cent, with health insurer NIB Holdings dropping 2.7 per cent and wealth manager Perpetual down 2.3 per cent.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was down 0.3 per cent at 13,206.21, dragged by industrials and healthcare stocks. Seafood firm Sanford was down 5.7 per cent to be the top loser on the index.

Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.1 per cent, while the S&P 500 E-minis futures were down 0.1 per cent.

REUTERS