Australian shares drop on weak profits from iron ore giants

Rio Tinto down 3% on smallest profit since 2019

Wesfarmers, Telstra gain more than 3%

Air NZ announces NZ$100 million buyback

Feb 20 (Reuters) – Australian shares fell 1% in their fourth consecutive session of losses on Thursday, as iron ore mining giants Rio Tinto and Fortescue slumped to multi-week lows after reporting weaker-than-expected earnings, with banks also weighing on sentiment.

The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 1% at 8,334.70, as of 0015 GMT, its weakest level since January 20. The benchmark is now down more than 3% since its all-time high of 8,615.20 scaled on February 14.

Rio Tinto fell 2.7% to its lowest since February 12, after the world’s biggest iron ore producer reported smallest annual profit in five years that also missed analyst expectations. Its full-year ordinary dividend payout also fell to lowest since 2019.

Fortescue tanked 7% after the world’s fourth-largest iron ore producer reported weaker-than-expected first-half profit and said it was reconsidering timeframes for some of its green energy projects.

That dragged the broader mining index more than 2% lower, marking its fourth straight day in the red. BHP Group also fell 2.1%.

Banks slipped more than 1% to their lowest in six weeks. ANZ Group shed 3% on reporting a rise in mortgage restructuring, which pushed asset impairments to their highest levels since 2021 in the first quarter.

The remaining three of the “Big Four” fell between 0.8% and 3%.

Conglomerate Wesfarmers advanced 2.6%, while telecom giant Telstra gained 4.7% on reporting upbeat first-half profits.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index slipped 0.7%. Air New Zealand rose as much as 4% after the flag carrier announced a share buyback of NZ$100 million ($57.04 million).

Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.82%. Overnight, the three major Wall Street indexes,, ticked higher. ($1 = 1.5743 Australian dollars) ($1 = 1.7532 New Zealand dollars) (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)