The local share market has fallen, dragged down by the big banks and major miners amid a quarterly production update from BHP and major job cuts at NAB.
Near midday on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 45.6 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 8799.6, while the broader All Ordinaries had dropped 48.6 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 8927.1.
BHP was down 1.8 per cent to $59.38 after the Big Australian said its copper output in the September quarter was down 19 per cent to around 400,000 tonnes, well below analyst expectations of 426,000 tonnes.
“BHP has left itself very little margin for error on copper this year,” said Josh Gilbert, eToro’s lead APAC analyst.
The miner will have to average 415,000 tonnes over each of the next three quarters just to reach the bottom end of its guidance, he said.
Elsewhere in the sector, Rio Tinto had dropped one per cent, South32 was down 2.6 per cent and goldminer Northern Star had slipped 2.3 per cent.
Overall the materials sector was down 1.5 per cent, the biggest loser out of the bourse’s 11 official sectors.
In financials, NAB had slid 3.3 per cent to $38.59 after the big four bank announced it plans to lay off 2500 workers over 2026/27.
The business-focused bank said that the job cuts, which will reduce its workforce by about six per cent, would make it a stronger bank that was better placed to navigate risks.
Together the slide in NAB and BHP’s shares accounted for about half of the ASX200’s drop.
Losses were more modest for the other big banks.
CBA and ANZ had both fallen 0.9 per cent, Westpac had retreated 1.6 per cent and Macquarie was 0.5 per cent lower.
Elsewhere in the sector, HUB24 had gained 3.6 per cent to $66.91 after the investment management platform used by financial advisors to manage client portfolios reported $4 billion in net inflows in the first quarter.
In real estate, Ingenia Communities had climbed 8.8 per cent to $4.615 after the retirement community operator said it was granting a US private equity firm an extension to come to terms on its takeover offer.
Warburg Pincus has floated a tentative price of $5.25 per stapled security, and the two sides now have until Friday to sign a deal.
In currency, the Australian dollar was trading at 69.79 US cents, up from 69.73 US cents at 5pm on Monday.
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