The sharemarket has opened lower, with mining giants and banks weighing on the index.
The sharemarket has opened lower, with mining giants and banks weighing on the index.
By Staff reporter
Updated February 18, 2025 — 9.57amfirst published at 4.29am
The Australian sharemarket has opened lower, dragged down by big miners and banks, as the global mining giant BHP slashed its dividend after a plunge in its profits.
The S&P/ASX 200 fell by 30.9 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 8506.20 points shortly before 11am AEDT, after the market lost 0.2 per cent on Monday. The Australian dollar traded flat at 63.55 US cents.
Shares in Australia’s biggest miner, BHP, fell 0.7 per cent to $40.50 after it cut its interim dividend by 30 per cent to US50¢ (78.6¢), while profits fell more than 20 per cent amid softer Chinese demand for iron ore. Rival iron ore powerhouse Rio Tinto fell 0.7 per cent.
The big four banks were all in the red, with Commonwealth Bank losing 0.3 per cent, Westpac falling 1 per cent, and National Australia Bank and ANZ Bank losing 0.5 per cent, respectively.
Qantas Airways fell 0.9 per cent after the competition watchdog said it would back an alliance of its rival Virgin Australia with Qatar Airways to start 28 new weekly return flights between Doha and Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, which it said was “likely to result in public benefits”. Under the deal, Virgin would use Qatar’s planes and crew on those services. The routes will be in direct competition with Qantas’ international operations.
The RBA will release its latest interest rate decision in the afternoon, with money markets betting the central bank will cut rates for the first time since 2020.
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Earlier, European shares marked a record closing high, boosted by defence stocks as investors priced in the likelihood of increased military spending in the region, following growing US pressure. Wall Street was closed on Monday for a holiday.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended up 0.5 per cent at 555.42 points, its highest ever closing level, with the aerospace and defence index leading sectoral gains with a 4.6 per cent jump, its biggest one-day jump since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
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The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed 0.4 per cent higher while Germany’s DAX jumped by 1.3 per cent, Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.4 per cent and France’s CAC 40 added 0.1 per cent.
Overnight, shares of European defence companies such as Italy’s Leonardo gained 8.1 per cent, Sweden’s Saab AB jumped 16.2 per cent and Britain’s BAE Systems advanced 8.9 per cent, while German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp, which is looking to spin off its warship division TKMS, soared 19.8 per cent to its highest in more than a year.
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Head of the EU executive Ursula von der Leyen also said the European Commission will propose exempting defence from EU limits on government spending, at a time when US President Donald Trump has asked European members of security group NATO to finance their own defence against a potential Russian attack.
European leaders met in Paris for an emergency summit on Ukraine after US officials suggested Europe would have no role in any upcoming talks aimed at ending the conflict with Russia.
Arms maker Rheinmetall’s shares surged 14 per cent, also lifting Germany’s benchmark index by 1.3 per cent to an all-time high.
with Reuters, AP
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