Mining multinationals Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and BHP (ASX:BHP) suffered share price drops on the S&P/ASX 200 index, which decreased by 0.62% to 8,618.10 points.
Rio declined by 2.6% to $162.82 each stock in the first few hours of the Australian Securities Exchange opening for trade. BHP declined by 2.1% to $51.46 per unit during the same period.
Copper, zinc, lead, silver, and aluminium producer South32 (ASX:S32) was down by 1% to $4.43. However, gold producer Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM) defied the declining trend by rising 4.5% to $166.08.
Index prices have fallen since the beginning of April 2026. On April 1 the index dropped 0.5% to 8,418.70 points.
The sharp rise came after two days of index point declines by 0.5% to 8,418.70, and by 1.22% to 8,412.70, respectively.
“Over the last five days the index has gained 1.09% but is down 1% year to date,” the ASX markets website says.
As Mining.com.au previously reported, the index reported a third year of “positive returns” during 2025 despite “some 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 predict the sharemarket and commodity prices will rapidly return to pre-war levels, if US-Israel-Iran tensions progressively de-escalate.
“While [US President Donald] Trump’s desire to wind down the campaign quickly is understandable, the decision to defer the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz leaves a critical chokepoint firmly in Tehran’s hands for the foreseeable future,” IG market analyst Tony Sycamore tells the Australian Associated Press.
“Unfortunately, this also pushes back any concrete resolution regarding the Strait’s reopening, effectively extending the uncertainty weighing on markets and the broader global economy,” he adds according to the newswire agency.
Write to Richard Szabo at Mining.com.au
Images: Marcus Reubenstein via Unsplash
