BHP Falls as ASX Miners Slump on Iran Tensions, Commodity Slide

The ASX 200 drifted lower Monday as a fresh escalation in the Iran conflict pushed Brent crude back near US$80 a barrel and sent gold below $4,100 an ounce, dragging the index's heavy mining component.

BHP Group Ltd fell alongside the broader resources sector. The stock is down for the session as iron ore held above US$98 a tonne in Singapore but copper and lithium continued their pullback, with copper losing 5% over the past month.

Commonwealth Bank shares bucked the trend, rising more than half a percent in afternoon trade.

Dateline Resources was the day's biggest gainer after the U.S. Department of Justice told a court the ASX-listed miner's project approval is valid, intervening in a lawsuit filed by an American environmental NGO. The stock ran hard on the news, though investors showed little curiosity about why the DOJ got involved in a planning dispute, traders said.

Healthcare names also found buyers. Mesoblast Limited and Sigma Healthcare, owner of the Chemist Warehouse chain, both landed on the top gainers board by mid-afternoon.

Inghams Group continued to recover from a sell-off triggered when H5 bird flu reached Australian shores. The stock remains down 12% year to date at $2.20 a share.

Wall Street futures pointed to a lower open, with the Nasdaq tipped to lose 1.3% as concerns about the sustainability of AI growth momentum persist. South Korean memory giant SK Hynix, which listed on the Nasdaq last week, fell 8% in Seoul on Monday.

BHP carries an Alpha Score of 69/100, rated Moderate, in the Basic Materials sector. See the BHP stock page for the full profile.