ASX Large Caps: Shares tumble 2pc on fears China's demand for commodities may dwindle

Commodities drive local shares down on China’s growth concerns
Energy, Mining sectors were down more than 4% today

Volatility in commodity prices dragged the ASX much lower today, with commodity related stocks falling heavily.

At the close, the benchmark ASX 200 was 2% lower, as Mining and Energy sectors plunged by more than 4% each.

Prices in commodities like iron ore and crude oil have been under pressure in the last few days as the market assessed the impact of China’s lockdowns on global demand.

After a rising death toll in Shanghai, the Chinese government has now expanded its Covid-19 testing to all of Beijing’s 22 million residents.

The price of iron ore plunged to as low as US$139 yesterday, before rallying back to US$149 a tonne.

Brent crude meanwhile, has lost most of its gains since Russia first invaded Ukraine in February, and is now trading at US$103 a barrel after falling briefly below US$100 overnight.

Local investors were also kept busy today with the release of the quarterly earnings reports. All eyes will be on the RBA meeting to be held in early May, where the market is expecting a rate hike signal by the central bank.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
PPH	Pushpay Holdings Ltd	1.175	22.4%	2,903,415	$1,095,071,350
VSL	Vulcan Steel	9.5	3.9%	195,327	$1,201,074,348
29M	29Metalslimited	3.17	3.6%	8,509,873	$1,472,837,336
YAL	Yancoal Aust Ltd	4.95	3.3%	864,790	$6,324,904,903
JIN	Jumbo Interactive	18.29	3.3%	161,835	$1,110,821,662
JDO	Judo Cap Holdings	1.7	3.0%	713,974	$1,824,085,515
VUK	Virgin Money Uk PLC	3.09	2.3%	3,643,230	$2,507,283,042
NUF	Nufarm Limited	6.9	2.1%	3,377,202	$2,568,929,495
MGH	Maas Group Holdings	5.1	2.0%	140,201	$1,476,251,520
SQ2	Block	148.85	2.0%	164,964	$6,551,314,628
SDF	Steadfast Group Ltd	5.1	1.6%	2,534,949	$4,907,521,604
RWC	Reliance Worldwide	3.99	1.5%	3,366,728	$3,105,072,426

Pushpay (ASX:PPH) rallied 23% after announcing that it has recently received unsolicited, non-binding and conditional expressions of interest from third parties looking to acquire the company. No other details were released.

Vulcan Steel (ASX:VSL)’s overall revenue was up 34% year-on-year for the 9 months to 31 March 2022, to approximately NZ$700 million. Vulcan has also upgraded its previous FY22 earnings forecasts to NZ$236-242m (previously NZ$194-204m).

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
EML	EML Payments Ltd	1.68	-38.0%	29,367,310	$1,012,077,456
KAR	Karoon Energy Ltd	2.02	-9.8%	3,199,035	$1,248,569,085
SGM	Sims Limited	20.18	-9.6%	1,110,000	$4,351,514,849
MIN	Mineral Resources.	55.01	-9.4%	2,022,156	$11,484,516,907
CIA	Champion Iron Ltd	6.83	-8.7%	3,002,294	$3,864,256,832
BSL	BlueScope Steel Ltd	20.23	-7.9%	3,096,013	$10,617,045,803
LTR	Liontown Resources	1.45	-7.6%	16,212,491	$3,441,793,561
CHN	Chalice Mining Ltd	6.56	-7.2%	3,946,127	$2,510,015,961
DOW	Downer EDI Limited	5.11	-7.1%	2,649,667	$3,717,911,626
S32	South32 Limited	4.5	-7.0%	30,081,520	$22,482,001,121
BGL	Bellevue Gold Ltd	0.94	-6.9%	3,262,885	$1,041,688,858
AKE	Allkem Limited	11.88	-6.9%	4,938,125	$8,136,517,177
ILU	Iluka Resources	10.46	-6.5%	2,607,432	$4,747,205,842
FMG	Fortescue Metals Grp	19.86	-6.4%	31,346,093	$65,335,635,560

EML Payments (ASX:EML) plunged 38% after downgrading its net profit forecast by 7%. The company said elevated costs and fewer new customers as being the main reasons for the downgrade.

Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) reported its lowest quarter of production since 2018 of 5.2 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), down 12% on the prior corresponding period. This was despite the company posting a 15% jump in earnings.