ASX slips as miners and tech stocks slump; Treasury Wine Estates rallies

Updated June 4, 2026 — 5:11pm,first published June 4, 2026 — 5:20am

The Australian sharemarket fell on Thursday as iron ore prices hit a two-month low after a report showed exports from Guinea’s Simandou project, dubbed the Pilbara Killer, have surged last month, weighing on the local mining giants.

Investors also had jitters over the latest flare-up in fighting in the Middle East, the Trump administration’s new 12.5 per cent tariff on Australian exports and a weak forecast from US chipmaker Broadcom, which dented the AI-fuelled enthusiasm for tech stocks.

The S&P/ASX 200 slumped 99.60 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 8686.10, with six of its 11 industry sectors in the red. The losses come after the ASX added 0.7 per cent on Wednesday. The Australian dollar traded at US71.34¢.

Investors had expected the ASX to follow the weak lead of Wall Street, where the S&P 500 fell from its all-time high overnight after oil prices jumped again amid fears an escalation of hostilities between the US and Iran will hinder prospects for a peace deal. Kuwait and Bahrain also got caught up in one the most serious flare-ups since a ceasefire went into effect in April.

The developments followed days of rising tension, including over Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, that threatens to derail US-Iran talks. However, oil prices eased after the close of Wall Street as Washington said Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a ceasefire, which would remove a key sticking point in the peace talks with Tehran. West Texas Intermediate traded around $US97 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was near $US96 after rising almost 10 per cent.

While oil prices let up, local investors were also watching the latest developments in Donald Trump’s trade war on the rest of the world, including Australia. Since the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s global tariffs in February, his administration has been working to reconstruct them, exploring legal options that would let them build back the wall of tariffs on imports into the US.

After the close of markets on Wednesday, the Trump administration unveiled part of its Plan B: a tariff of 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent on 59 countries and the 27-member European Union. The levies were intended to pressure governments that the US claims have not enacted or enforced laws against trading goods made with forced labour. Those tariffs could go into effect as soon as July.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called the fresh tariff threats “unjustified” as he defended Australia’s slavery response.

Mining stocks led the day’s losses, with the