A steep fall in iron ore prices has dragged the resource-heavy Australian share market lower.
Iron ore was down four per cent on Friday night, its lowest since the start of price tracking in 2008, Australian Stock Report head of research Chris Conway said.
“The selling is emanating from the commodity players this morning and it has spread to the broader market,” he said.
Weaker commodity prices have overshadowed strong leads from Wall Street where shares snapped a four-day losing streak on Friday.
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At 1015 AEDT, BHP Billiton was down 44 cents, or 1.43 per cent, at $30.31, Rio Tinto had shed 89 cents, or 1.57 per cent, to $55.66 and Fortescue Metals had dipped 7.5 cents, or 3.75 per cent, to $1.925.
Australian miner PanAust shares were flat at $1.225 after its major shareholder Chinese group Guangdong Rising Assets Management made a takeover offer.
Energy stocks were also lower: oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum had declined 17 cents to $29.45 and rival Santos had lost 29 cents to $7.24.
As for the major banks, National Australia Bank had shed 28 cents to $38.55, Westpac was down 16 cents at $39.04, Commonwealth Bank was minus 71 cents at $93.63, and ANZ had declined 28 cents to $36.52.
Telstra had shed four cents to $6.34.
