The materials sector was the only bright light in a sea of red today on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
The S&P/ASX200 dropped 38.1 points, or 0.45%, to 8,348.7 points by the closing bell.
The index is still up 0.62% over the past five trading sessions but is 3.09% below its one-year high.
Materials lifted 0.6% while the remaining 10 sectors closed down. Information technology tumbled 1.64%, energy fell 1.39%, the financial sector retreated 0.78% and industrials slid 0.32%.
While the gold miners largely dominated the session, Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) was a leader today (22 May), jumping 6.97% to $8.13.
The miner announced last week that it had produced the first dysprosium oxide at its plant in Malaysia, making it the world’s only commercial producer of separated heavy rare earths products outside of China.
Dysprosium is one of the rare earths that China in April placed an export ban on in response to the high tariffs US President Donald Trump introduced on Chinese goods imported into the US.
Another big mover today was small cap New World Resources (ASX:NWC), which yesterday (21 May) received a $185 million, or $0.05 per share, takeover offer from Central Asia Metals (AIM:CAML).
New World closed up 67.86% at $0.047.
Canadian Phosphate (ASX:CP8), meanwhile, spiked 55% to $0.031 on no news. The company owns the Wapiti and Fernie sedimentary rock phosphate projects in British Columbia.
A key component of fertiliser and lithium iron phosphate battery production, Canada imports 99% of its phosphate needs.
The S&P/ASX200 is Australia’s leading share market index and contains the top 200 ASX-listed companies in terms of market capitalisation, and accounts for about 80% of the country’s equity market. The index is designed to measure the performance of the 200 largest index-eligible stocks listed on the ASX by float-adjusted market capitalisation.
It is recognised as the institutional investable benchmark in the country.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: iStock
