ASX miners slump as gold, uranium and iron ore prices retreat
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: ASX miners slumped in morning trade, with gold, uranium and iron ore stocks making up seven of the 10 worst performers across the ASX 200.
The numbers: Materials was the worst performing sector by 12:30pm AEDT, falling 1.3% as the ASX 200 index lowered 0.3%.
Iron ore heavyweights Fortescue (-1.8%), BHP (-1.3%), Rio Tinto (1.3%) and Champion Iron (-1.3%) were all trading lower.
Meanwhile, the market's largest uranium producers Boss Energy (-6.3%), Deep Yellow (-4.3%) and Paladin Energy (-3.8%) were all among the worst 10 ASX 200 performers.
Among gold stocks, Vault Minerals (-5.3%), West African Resources (-3.7%) and Newmont (-3.3%) were worst hit across the ASX 200.
The context: Iron ore futures tumbled on Friday, after China's key policy meeting failed to announce firm fiscal stimulus measures. Singapore iron ore futures were last up 0.35% to USD104.25 ($163.61) per tonne.
Gold stocks extended declines from Friday, after spot gold retreated from a five-week high last week. Traders were seen to lock in profits on gold ahead of this week's meeting of the US Federal Reserve, with mounting expectations of a further cut to interest rates. Gold was last up 0.22% to USD2,654.17 per ounce.
Elsewhere, uranium miners pared gains from the previous session, after new modelling claimed that by 2050 the Coalition's nuclear energy plan would be more cost effective than Labor's current renewables strategy.
