Australia: Shares fall as miners, Federal Reserve rate-hike views weigh

AUSTRALIAN shares fell on Friday, as investors took cues from a tepid Wall Street overnight finish after the US Federal Reserve reiterated aggressive rate-hike views, while miners also dragged the benchmark index lower on weak iron ore prices. The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 1.5 per cent at 7,479.20 points, as of 0038 GMT. The benchmark, which closed 0.3 per cent higher on Thursday, was on track for its worst week in two months, if losses hold. Miners slumped 3.9 per cent and were set for their biggest weekly drop since last August after iron ore prices fell amid Covid-19 concerns and steel production controls in top steel producer China. Global miners BHP and Rio Tinto, which flagged continuing production weakness earlier this week, fell 5 per cent and 4.1 per cent, respectively, to be the top losers in the mining sub-index. BHP was on track to mark the biggest weekly drop in eight months while Rio was poised for its worst day since March 15. Shares of Fortescue Metals Group, which is due to report its quarterly production numbers next week, skid 3.2 per cent. Tech stocks fell 2.5 per cent to hit a one-month low, tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq lower after Fed Chair Jerome Powell offered further signposting of aggressive interest rate hikes this year. Australia-listed shares of Megaport and Block Inc dived 10.6 per cent and 5.9 per cent, respectively, to be the top losers in the technology sub-index. Financials were down 0.9 per cent with the “Big Four” banks losing between 0.4 per cent and 0.8 per cent. Looming rate hikes weighed on bullion with gold stocks slumping more than 2 per cent. New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 fell 0.4 per cent to 11,910.8 points. REUTERS