It's been a rather brutal day of trading on the ASX boards so far this Friday. At the time of writing, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has lost a painful 1.16% and is back to around 6,570 points. But it's been even worse for some ASX 200 shares. One of those is the Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) share price.
Newcrest shares have copped a belting today, no way around it. This ASX 200 gold miner is currently down a nasty 2.92% at just $18.64 a share. Not only that, but earlier in today's session, Newcrest shares fell as low as $18.62 each. That's a new 52-week low for the miner.
So what on earth is going on today that might explain such a horrendous move for Newcrest shares?
Well, the first thing to note is that Newcrest's woes aren't unique. The ASX gold space, and indeed the entire materials sector, are all having a very tough day.
Newcrest's ASX 200 gold peers like Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) and Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR) are having a shocker. Northern Star shares have lost 2.9% so far today, while Gold Road shares are down 1.57%.
But looking outside the ASX gold shares, we are still seeing plenty of red. Take the Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price. It's currently down 5.74%. BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) shares have lost more than 4%, while the Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) share price has gone backwards by 5.6%.
Why are ASX 200 gold shares like Newcrest taking a pounding?
As my colleague James covered this morning, it seems concerns over China's economic growth, as well as a slump in commodity prices, are weighing on the entire materials sector today, which is currently the worst-performing sector of the ASX 200.
But what also might be affecting the Newcrest share price specifically is the price of gold itself. As we also covered this morning, the yellow metal dropped substantially overnight. It fell 1.6% to just over US$1,700 an ounce, which is the lowest gold has traded at since March 2021.
So considering all of this, it's perhaps no surprise that we are seeing new 52-week lows for the Newcrest share price today.
At the current Newcrest share price, this ASX 200 gold share has a market capitalisation of $16.67 billion, with a dividend yield of 3.52%.
