Aussie shares dip as Trump vows to impose metal tariffs

The Australian share market has fallen after US President Donald Trump fired another salvo in his budding trade war, although the losses have moderated as trading continues.

At noon AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 21.2 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 8,490.2, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 22.2 points, or 0.25 per cent, the 8,759.9.

The ASX200 had been down by as many as 66 points, or 0.78 per cent, in the first few minutes of trading, after President Trump told reporters he would impose 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports to the United States.

Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda said it was a truism during Mr Trump’s first term that market participants would lighten up on risk going into the weekend, because they never knew what the US president might say between the Friday of one week and the Monday of the next.

For a second week in the row, this had proven true during Mr Trump’s second term, with price action in markets suggesting there could also be tariffs coming for the Eurozone and Japan.

At midday, five of the ASX’s 11 sectors were lower and five were higher, with property basically flat.

Tech was the biggest mover, falling 1.6 per cent as Wisetech Global retreated 4.3 per cent after the logistic platform’s board said it had received two confidential complaints against its founding chief executive, Richard White, currently in a full-time consultancy role.

The complaints were being considering as the ongoing board review, the company said.

In the heavyweight mining sector, BlueScope Steel was up 2.8 per cent, with traders apparently betting its US operations would let the steelmaker escape the tariffs.

Fortescue was up 0.6 per cent, while BHP was down 0.3 per cent and Rio Tinto had dipped 0.1 per cent.

Goldminers were higher as the safe-haven asset changed hands at $US2,875 an ounce, just $US5 below its all-time high set late last week, amid the trade tensions.

Evolution was up 1.2 per cent, Northern Star had climbed 1.0 per cent and West African Resources had added 3.0 per cent.

The Star had soared 15.9 per cent to a 10-day high of 12.75 cents after the beleaguered casino operator said it had received non-binding proposals from its joint-venture partners to buy out Star’s half-stake in their new Brisbane hotel-casino.

So far those proposals have provided sufficient value for The Star, but negotiations continue.

Ansell was up 6.4 per cent to $37.15 after the glovemaker reported it made $127.4 million in earnings before interest and tax in the first half, up 20.2 per cent from a year ago on a constant-currency basis.

JB Hi-Fi was down 2.1 per cent after the consumer electronics retailer reported that sales growth had moderated slightly in January after climbing 9.8 per cent in the six months to December 31.

All the big four banks were lower, with NAB down 0.7 per cent, Westpac dropping 0.4 per cent, ANZ dipping 0.5 per cent and CBA retreating 0.6 per cent.

The Australian dollar was buying 62.63 US cents, from 62.80 US cents around 5pm on Friday.