The Australian share market has been unable to build on last week's strong performance and is notably lower at lunch on Monday. At the time of writing the S&P/ASX 200 index is down almost 1% to 6,686.2 points.
Here's what has been happening on the market today:
Banks in the red.
Australia's big four banks have had a disappointing start to the week. At lunch all four banks are trading notably lower, with Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares the worst performers in the group with a decline of 1%.
Mining giants lower.
Declines by BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) have weighed heavily on the market on Monday. Investors have been selling their shares following a crash in iron ore prices late on Friday after a Chinese official revealed plans to crackdown on the high prices of the steel making ingredient. This has led to the S&P/ASX 200 Resources index dropping 1.1% lower today.
Gold miners sink.
Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM), Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST), and the rest of the gold miners have sunk lower on Monday after strong U.S. jobs data dampened hopes of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve and put pressure on the gold price. According to CNBC, the spot gold price dropped 1.5% to US$1,400.10 an ounce on Friday. It has continued to edge lower during Asian trade, leading to the S&P/ASX All Ords Gold index falling 1.8% so far today.
Best and worst performers.
The best performer on the ASX 200 on Monday has been the Speedcast International Ltd (ASX: SDA) share price with a 7% gain. Investors appear to believe that last week's selloff was overdone and has created a buying opportunity. Going the other way is the G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM) share price which has fallen 9% after the childcare centre operator was downgraded by a leading broker.
