Australian shares retreated on Thursday as renewed hostilities between the US and Iran began anew and peace talks showed little progress.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 1.13%, or 99.60 points, to close at 8,686.10.
Brent crude oil futures fell to trade at around $96 per barrel after Lebanon and Israel agreed to a potential conditional ceasefire.
Iron ore fell over 1% to $102.25 per tonne in Singapore after exports from Guinea's Simandou iron ore project rose in May.
The main stock indices on Wall Street fell overnight, with the S&P 500 dropping 0.7% and the Nasdaq falling 0.9%, while the Dow Jones fell 1.2%.
On the domestic front, Australia's goods balance recorded a seasonally adjusted surplus of AU$1.79 billion in April, up from a deficit of AU$1.02 billion in March, according to data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Australia's economy faces mounting pressure from a softening labor market, stubborn inflation, and global energy uncertainty, weighing on growth and reshaping the property outlook, according to Bendigo Bank's Chief Economist, David Robertson.
In company news, Treasury Wine Estates (ASX:TWE) expected fiscal year 2026 earnings before interest, tax, material items, and self-generating and regenerating assets (EBITS) to reach AU$480 million to AU$490 million. The firm projects fiscal year 2027 performance at least in line with the year prior, citing continued progress in normalizing customer inventory levels across China and the US.
IperionX (ASX:IPX) said its definitive feasibility study for its Titan critical minerals project in the US returned an after-tax net present value of $813 million at an 8% discount rate, an after-tax internal rate of return of 39%, and an after-tax payback period of 3.6 years.
Tasmea (ASX:TEA) declared a fully franked special dividend of AU$0.10 per share, representing a capital return of about AU$26.2 million. The dividend is payable June 25 to shareholders on record as of June 10. It also reconfirmed its fiscal year 2026 earnings guidance. Its shares earlier hit an all-time peak.