Australian shares dip in broad-based selling; South32 shines
The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.6 per cent to 8,700.80 by 0023 GMT. The benchmark rose 2.1 per cent last week in its strongest weekly performance since April.
Globally, investors were hoping for some progress in trade talks ahead of US President Donald Trump's August 1 tariff deadline.
In Sydney, miners fell 0.4 per cent on Monday after gaining 1.7 per cent last week. Shares of mining major BHP were down 0.2 per cent.
Outperforming the mining sub-index, South32 rose more than 2 per cent after the world's largest producer of manganese clocked an output of 1.1 million wet metric tons of manganese for the quarter ended June 30. The result beat a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 850,000 wmt, as per Barrenjoey.
Financials dropped 0.8 per cent after rising 1.6 per cent last week, with the "Big Four" banks down between 0.6 per cent and 1.1 per cent.
Gold stocks declined more than 1 per cent. Northern Star Resources and Genesis Minerals lost 0.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.
Energy stocks fell 0.3 per cent. Woodside Energy was down 0.3 per cent, while Santos edged 0.1 per cent lower.
Brent crude futures rose 5 cents to US$69.33 a barrel after settling 0.35 per cent lower on Friday. US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 2 cents at US$67.36 a barrel, following a 0.30 per cent decline in the previous session.
Information technology stocks dropped 0.3 per cent. WiseTech Global declined 0.2 per cent, while Xero's Australian shares shed 0.7 per cent.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.2 per cent to 12,905.69.
Data showed the country's annual consumer inflation accelerated in the second quarter but came in below economists' forecasts.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which in May forecast annual inflation for the quarter at 2.6 per cent, held interest rates steady at this month's policy meeting partly due to near-term price risks.
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