The ASX's listed resources and energy companies have seen their share prices hammered in early trading today dragging the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) down 0.7%.
In the Top 20, BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) has seen its share price lose 3.7% to trade around $18.89. Spinoff South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) has seen its share price lose 3.2% to trade at $1.62 and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) has seen its share price sink 2.4% to $44.37.
In the energy sector, Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) is down 1.9% to $4.72 and Origin Energy Limited (ASX: ORG) has dropped 1.6% to $5.90.
Most of the falls can be attributed to falling commodity prices overnight.
Brent Crude Oil fell 1.3% to US$51.85 a barrel, after weeks of steady gains saw the benchmark price rise from below US$44 a barrel. Earlier in the day, the commodity hit its 2016 all-time high of US$52.86 a barrel, but the chances of oil heading back above US$100 a barrel are small.
Copper futures fell to their lowest levels in nearly four months, as rising stockpiles show demand can't keep up with a global supply glut. China's copper imports in May also fell for the second consecutive month, according to customs data.
Spot gold also fell, losing 0.3% to US$1,269.40 an ounce, and platinum was down, giving the resource-heavy ASX a headache in early trading.
The big miners were hit particularly hard after news reports emerged that BHP is looking at opening a huge new iron ore mine as we wrote earlier today.
Foolish takeaway
Looking at Bloomberg's commodity index suggests that commodities prices may have hit bottom, which is good news for the resources and energy companies mentioned above. There will be occasional pullback days like this though.
