Australia Stocks Fall After Tumbling Oil And Ore Prices

Australian stocks followed their U.S. peers into solid losses Tuesday as tumbling prices for oil and other key commodities pushed the resource shares into deep losses. The S&P/ASX 200 was down 1.2% at 5,385.70, easily wiping out the previous day's 0.3% advance. A 5% dive for Nymex crude and an almost 6% sell-down for Brent translated into a sharp retreat for the energy names: Oil Search Ltd. fell 6.1%, Santos Ltd. lost 6.3%, Woodside Petroleum Ltd. gave up 4.6%, and WorleyParsons Ltd. traded 5.2% lower. It was a similar story for iron ore, as weaker prices for the mineral kicked Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. lower by 4.8%, Arrium Ltd. down 5.7%, and Atlas Iron Ltd. and BC Iron Ltd. down 5.8% each. BHP Billiton Ltd. -- which also has major exposure to both iron ore and oil, fell 4.3%, while rival Rio Tinto Ltd. dropped 2.3%. Shares of rare-earths extractor Lynas Corp. plunged 7.4% as China ended export quotas for its own rare earths. Outside the mining and energy sectors, meanwhile, Macquarie Group Ltd. fell 1.1% after Wall Street's overnight losses, while Suncorp Group Ltd. lost 1.2%, Leighton Holdings Ltd. gave up 2.6%, and BlueScope Steel Ltd. moved 2.8% lower.