Sydney, March 3, 2026, 16:59 AEDT — After-hours
- BHP ended down 2.6% at A$57.70, snapping a two-day run of gains.
- Australian shares fell 1.34%, with miners among the main drags.
- Traders now watch BHP’s March 5 ex-dividend date and Middle East-driven moves in oil and freight.
BHP Group Ltd (BHP.AX) shares ended down 2.6% at A$57.70 on Tuesday, giving back part of Monday’s 3.8% jump as risk appetite thinned across the local market. A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards official warned ships trying to pass the Strait of Hormuz would be attacked and set “ablaze”, Reuters reported. 1
That mattered because BHP is one of the biggest weights on the Australian market. The S&P/ASX 200 closed down 123 points, or 1.34%, at 9,077.30, the ABC reported. 2
Global markets were already on edge. A Reuters wrap said stocks fell sharply as U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran raised fears of a wider conflict, lifting energy prices and driving supertanker shipping rates to record highs; it pegged Brent around $79 a barrel and said LNG prices in Europe and Asia jumped about 40% in a day. 3
At home, rate jitters added another layer. Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock said the central bank’s March 17 meeting would be “live” and warned that prolonged oil-driven supply shocks could unmoor inflation expectations, Reuters reported, with markets implying roughly a 30% chance of a hike in March. 4
The selling ran through the other big miners. Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) fell 2.4% to A$165.37 and Fortescue (FMG.AX) slid 4.5% to A$19.58, Morningstar data showed. 5
BHP also has a clean calendar catalyst just ahead. The company has flagged an interim dividend of 73 U.S. cents a share due on March 26; its ASX-quoted shares trade ex-dividend on March 5 — meaning buyers from that date will not receive the payout — and its dividend reinvestment plan election closes on March 9. 6
Iron ore, BHP’s biggest profit driver, has been pulled between freight costs and demand doubts. A Reuters report carried by Mining Weekly said Singapore iron ore futures were around $99 a ton on Monday, helped by higher oil lifting freight costs and slightly lower shipments from Australia and Brazil, but steel demand and inventories in China stayed a drag; “slow recovery in steel demand” and high stocks were weighing on prices, said Guiqiu Zhuo, an analyst at Jinrui Futures. 7
For BHP, it’s the usual mix — China signals, shipping routes, and the price of moving bulk commodities — but the odds around each input have widened in a hurry. Freight and fuel don’t just hit costs; they also change where marginal supply clears.
But there’s a clear downside path. If the Middle East conflict deepens and energy stays higher for longer, traders will start leaning harder into slower global growth and tighter policy, which can hit the cyclical end of the market and cap metal prices even as miners sell at better nominal prices in the short term.
Next up is Thursday. Traders will watch BHP’s ex-dividend date on the ASX, any moves tied to China’s policy calendar this week, and fresh headlines on Hormuz shipping — with the RBA’s March 17 decision sitting just beyond the next session.
