By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1% to 7,326.5 after the first 75 minutes of Monday's trade, extending losses of 0.4% in the previous week and heading toward fresh 2-week lows as the materials sector led declines.
ASX 200 Futures were flat at 7,334.5.
Among stocks, lower iron ore prices drove Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) 3.4% lower while BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP) dipped 2% and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) shed 3.4% after reporting a drop in quarterly iron ore production while remaining flat on an annualised basis.
Energy also declined 0.4% collectively with Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) down 0.9%, Woodside Energy Ltd (ASX:WDS) falling 0.4% and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) shedding 1.2%. South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) also shed 8.3% after reporting weaker than expected quarterly results.
Ahead in the week, consumer price index data will be closely watched, with analysts expecting quarterly inflation to have retreated from 23-year highs. Meantime, import and export price indices, producer price index and private sector credit data will also be monitored.
Meanwhile, traders are expecting a slew of quarterly updates from local companies throughout the week including Telstra Group Ltd (ASX:TLS), Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG), Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN), Ampol Ltd (ASX:ALD), Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM), Flight Centre Ltd (ASX:FLT), Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1), Coles Group Ltd (ASX:COL), Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR) as well as major U.S. companies Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) , Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN).
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On the bond markets, 10-year rates Australia 10-Year 3.485%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 was down 0.1% to 11,915.1.