By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6% to 6,806 after the first 90 minutes of Friday’s trade, snapping 4 session of consecutive advance and retreating from 6-week highs as falling iron ore prices pushed major mining companies lower.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.3% lower.
Among stocks, losses were led by Materials and Energy, with Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) shedding 3.3%, BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP) down 3.5%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) falling 5.4% and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) down 4.8%, while Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) lost 0.3%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) fell 0.3% and South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) lost 2.1%.
Meantime, Industrials and Utilities were up 1% and 0.7% respectively, with Transurban Group (ASX:TCL) gaining 2.2% and Brambles Ltd (ASX:BXB) up 0.2% while AGL Energy Ltd (ASX:AGL) gained 0.9%, Infratil Ltd (ASX:IFT) lifted 0.7% and APA Group (ASX:APA) gained 1.6%.
Among reporting companies, Carsales.Com Ltd (ASX:CAR) lifted 0.4%, Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) tanked 15.3% and Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) lifted 2.6%.
Coming up in the session, market participants will be monitoring fresh PPI data.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 3.781% while United States 10-Year rates were at 3.938%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 0.1% to 11,115.6.