The S&P/ASX 200 index opened this week 0.98% lower to 8,546.6 points, with gold producers Manhattan Gold Corporation (ASX:MHC) and Strickland Metals (ASX:STK) among the bottom-performing stocks.
Manhattan’s share price plunged 16% to $0.021, while Strickland fell by 14.8% to $0.115 per share in the first hour of trading on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Odyssey Gold (ASX:ODY) decreased by 7.6% to $0.036 per share, while Torque Metals (ASX:TOR) was down 7.14% to $0.39 per share.
The index had earlier recovered for the first time on 1 May, after an 11-day losing streak. Following a 0.29% decline between 20 and 21 April, it fell a further 0.44%–0.45% between 22 and 23 April. A 0.29% fall on 24 April was followed by a sharper slump of 0.62% on 27 April, taking the index to 8,732.1 points. Losses continued on 28 April (down 0.74% to 8,701.1), 29 April (down 0.47% to 8,670), and 30 April (down 0.4% to 8,652.1).
The benchmark more recently dropped on 8 May (down 0.98% to 8,658.6), 11 May (down 0.93% to 8,795.7), 12 May (down 1% to 8,881.1 points), 13 May (down 0.06% to 8,696.3), and 14 May (down 0.1% to 8,621.6).
“Over the last five days the index has lost 1.78% and 1.92% year to date,” the ASX markets website says.
As Mining.com.au previously reported, the index reported a third year of “positive returns” in 2025 despite “concerns about the state of the world”.
“Big option trades using longer-dated contracts we found in January appear to be looking for continuation of this upward trend in 2026,” the ASX says.
Analysts agree that the Iran-Israel conflict has created significant investor uncertainty across the ASX index.
Write to Richard Szabo at Mining.com.au
Images: Australian Securities Exchange via Facebook
