Monsters of Rock: Iron ore futures hammered as big miners slide

Big iron ore companies weighed on the materials index as futures were hammered in Asia.

The most traded January contract for Dalian iron ore was trading down 7.1% at 4.20 AEDT, fetching US$81.64/t.

The contract for January delivery in Singapore was similarly troubled, falling 5.73% to US$84.85/t.

Spot iron ore fell 1.6% to US$92.30/t on Tuesday according to Fastmarkets MB.

Fortescue (ASX:FMG), BHP (ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) all copped a whack, falling 2.13%, 2.7% and 1.65% respectively as weakness in China’s steel market weighed on iron ore prices and sentiment.

A few bright spots came from the gold sector, with St Barbara (ASX:SBM) rising by 2.89%, Kirkland Lake (ASX:KLA) up 3.21% and Silver Lake Resources gaining 2.01%, all on no news.

Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN), was the top performing mid-cap stock, but dropped to a 4.94% gain to $9.13, having soared as high as $9.95 in morning trade.

The materials index was down 1.47%, the weakest of the 11 sectors on the ASX.

Monsters share prices today: