Australia’s ASX 200 dropped 88 points, or 1.0%, to close at 8,978 on Wednesday, marking a third consecutive decline and the lowest finish in four weeks. Sentiment weakened after Wall Street extended its slide for a third session on Tuesday, as renewed conflict in the Middle East pushed oil prices higher and reignited inflation concerns and expectations of further rate hikes.
On the domestic front, fears of supply disruptions and persistent inflation kept investors cautious, with futures markets assigning nearly a 60% probability to an RBA rate increase later this month. Traders also positioned ahead of July trade figures due Thursday, following June’s combination of strong exports and subdued imports.
Losses on the index were partly contained by stronger-than-expected Q2 GDP data, underpinned by solid private demand and robust mining exports. Nonetheless, declines were broad-based, led by non-energy minerals, commercial services, and consumer-related stocks.
Among major names, BHP Group (-3.6%) and Rio Tinto (-1.9%) weighed on the mining sector, while softer gold prices pressured Northern Star Resources (-5.0%) and Evolution Mining (-1.9%). In contrast, Woodside Energy gained 1.2%, and the big four banks advanced between 0.2% and 0.5%.
