FX.co ★ Australian Stocks Retreat from Record

On Wednesday morning, the S&P/ASX 200 index saw a 1% decline, settling around 9,000, retracting from its previous session's record close. The downturn was predominantly driven by a significant drop in gold and major mining stocks. Gold mining companies experienced a notable fall, dropping nearly 10% to their lowest in over three weeks, marking the steepest decline since April 23. This sell-off occurred after gold prices plummeted as investors took profits following a record high earlier in the week. Within the sector, Northern Star Resources fell 9.5% and Evolution Mining declined by 10%. In addition, mining shares collectively decreased by 3.6% to a one-week low, reversing the record gains seen on Tuesday, despite stable iron ore prices. Key players such as BHP and Rio Tinto both saw their shares fall by approximately 1.5%, while Fortescue retreated 0.4% ahead of its quarterly earnings release. Notably, energy firms experienced a moderate increase of 0.5%, buoyed by a 2.8% surge in Woodside Energy following the company's upward revision of its FY2025 production outlook, attributed to strong operational performance. Conversely, Santos saw a slight decline of 0.7%.