Australian shares retreat as miners lose ground

Australian shares fell on Thursday after a three-session winning run, with index heavyweight miners leading the retreat on weaker commodity prices, while a divided US Federal Reserve left interest rates steady. The S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0. 5% to 8, 991. 30 by 0033 GMT after closing 1% higher on Wednesday. Asian stocks struggled for direction amid investor jitters around the AI trade. The Fed’s decision to keep the benchmark interest rate in the 3. 50%-3. 75% range was largely expected, with three out of 12 members in favour of a quarter-percentage-point hike. In Sydney, index heavyweight miners dropped 0. 9% on weaker iron ore and copper prices. Sector giant BHP and Fortescue fell more than 0. 6% each. Gold stocks shed 1. 1%, with Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources down 0. 6% and 1. 6%, respectively. Financials inched 0. 1% higher, rising for a seventh straight session. Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac climbed between 0. 2% and 1. 3%. National Australia Bank said domestic home-loan applications fell 15% in the June quarter, while business lending showed early signs of stress. Its shares rose 0. 5%. Among individual stocks, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises jumped as much as 14. 1% and was headed for its best session since late October. On Wednesday, the company maintained its annual underlying net profit after tax outlook despite write-downs of A$259 million ($180. 08 million). New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0. 9% to 13, 850. 36, on track for its worst session since June 8. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand appointed Byron Pepper as deputy chair of its board for a four-year term ending June 2030.

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