MELBOURNE, June 9, 2026, 02:05 AEST
BHP Group Ltd’s Australian stock is on track to start trading again following the King’s Birthday break, with the market looking at last week’s iron ore selloff and a more upbeat session in the miner’s overseas shares.
BHP shares on the ASX last changed hands at A$61.24, down 2.48%, after the local exchange shut for King’s Birthday on Monday, June 8. The market closure paused both trading and settlement, so Friday’s close stayed as the most recent price. Meanwhile, BHP’s U.S.-listed ADRs advanced 2.03% to $84.40 by early Tuesday AEST, based on BHP’s published data.
BHP and Rio Tinto set new records midweek with copper rallying, but by the end of last week, things shifted. Iron ore weakened, hurting BHP, which has long relied on the commodity for profits.
BHP finished last week about 2% lower, dropping from A$62.48 on June 1 to A$61.24 by June 5, according to published daily closes. Friday’s decline stood out, with ASX data showing BHP off by 2.48%. Rio Tinto fell 1.86% and Fortescue dropped 2.33%. All three iron ore majors moved together, suggesting this was a sector trade, not a stock-specific issue.
S&P/ASX 200 lost ground Friday, dropping to 8,625.10. Miners and banks led the move down. Iron ore prices slipped again, off for a fourth week at $101.96 a tonne. That put pressure on BHP, Rio and Fortescue, all with heavy exposure to Chinese steel demand.
Materials were under pressure after a 1.9% drop in SGX iron ore futures on Thursday. The Singapore contracts, used to bet on forward ore prices, settled at $101.65 a tonne. MarketIndex said the fall came as shipments surged out of Guinea’s Simandou project in May.
Iron ore prices lost ground. Citing Reuters, Business Recorder said last week that Dalian iron ore slipped 0.57% and Singapore July iron ore dropped 1.45% to $103.70 a tonne. Steel margins stayed tight, with mills seeing less profit after raw material costs. Xin Ge, deputy director at Lange Steel, said downstream steel demand “has taken a hit” and coal prices have put more pressure on margins. Business Recorder
BHP shares are up solidly in 2026, helped by the company’s mix outside iron ore. BHP makes iron ore, copper, potash, and met coal. Reuters calls it the world’s biggest listed miner and a major copper producer.
Copper is still in demand. BHP CFO Vandita Pant told the Macquarie Australia Conference in May that BHP is seeing more international generalist investors coming in for its copper, connecting it to electrification and AI data centre growth. “Copper is a bottleneck,” Pant said. Reuters
Iron ore is testing that shift. Back in April, BHP finished talks with China Mineral Resources Group. eToro’s Josh Gilbert said ending the dispute “de-risks the iron ore earnings base” and called iron ore BHP’s “cash engine” for growth. Reuters
But the coming week is not without risk. Iron ore could fall further, Chinese demand could slow, or issues at Port Hedland could hit shipments. Any of these could weigh on copper, with BHP’s shares no longer at lows but just down from their highs.
Electrical workers at BHP’s Port Hedland export port in Western Australia could walk off the job by June 30, Reuters said May 29. Union leader Adam Woodage said BHP had to “negotiate with us.” Labour risk remains live. Reuters
China is also on the radar. A Reuters poll out Monday showed economists see May exports up 15% year over year, with imports up around 25%, but they flagged that some of the orders may have been front-loaded and could drop back. For BHP, economists say it’s the import figure that matters more, as it shows demand for raw materials instead of just tracking shipments of finished goods.
ASX trading resumes Tuesday. The focus is on BHP as traders weigh U.S. buying interest against falling iron ore prices. The main question is if the offshore bid in BHP will outweigh the recent commodity drop or if locals take the chance to cut miners after the break.
