Mining companies in Australia and the Australian dollar suffer as the most important commodity for the economy continues to slide and concluded its third biggest weekly drop for the year last week. Iron ore futures for September delivery on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 4.8 percent last week to $65.8 per ton, the lowest since the US election. In the cash market, the iron ore is trading at $57.8 per ton, which is the lowest point since March. The election of the Donald Trump boosted the price of Iron ore and it was trading above $90 per ton in March, but as the hopes of a quick implementation of President Trump’s infrastructure plans faded, iron ore has suffered the brunt.
Despite the recent broad-based weakness in the dollar, the Australian dollar has declined in the past six of the seven weeks. Aussie is currently trading at 0.743 against the dollar. While the china’s commodity markets are closed for a holiday on Monday, the metal stocks are sliding in Australia. Fortescue Metals Group, the largest pure-play listed in Australia, was down 1.2 percent in morning trade on Monday. Rio Tinto was down 0.4 percent.
This year, the price of Iron ore is down more than 25 percent.
