It's been an exceptionally strong start to the trading day — and week — for ASX shares so far this Monday. At the time of writing, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has gained a healthy 1.89%, putting the index back over 6,800 points. But the BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price is faring even better than that.
BHP shares are presently leaving the ASX 200 in the dust. The mining giant is enjoying a boost of 3.86% at the time of writing, ratcheting up the BHP share price to $39.54.
It's BHP that the ASX 200 probably has to thank for the lion's share of today's gains too. The Big Australian is the largest share by weighting in the ASX 200 Index, and thus the share that has the most individual impact on its overall performance.
So what could be lighting the fire under BHP shares that we see burning so brightly this Monday?
Well, there's been no ASX news or announcements out from the miner today. So we can only speculate. But there are a few things we can still point to.
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Why is the BHP share price on fire this Monday?
The first is the iron ore price. Iron remains BHP's biggest business, so investors know that the movements of the iron ore price mean a lot to the company.
According to Markets Insider, iron ore has seen a rebound in recent days. The latest pricing has the metal rising from US$90.82 per tonne to US$94.86 per tonne.
So this might be boosting sentiment for BHP shares as we start a new trading week.
Also helping could be some love from ASX brokers recently. As my Fool colleague James covered on Friday, broker Morgans has recently retained an add rating on the BHP share price. That was, albeit, with a trimmed 12-month share price target of $47.
Even so, that represents a potential upside of close to 19% from today's levels. The broker continues to view BHP as one of the best options in the mining and resources sector.
Finally, BHP's old flame South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) is also performing strongly today after the miner reported a quarterly update. Investors seem to be welcoming what the company had to say, seeing as the South32 share price has gained a healthy 1.88% so far today to $3.79 a share.
Perhaps this has put investors in a more forgiving mood than when BHP reported its own quarterly update last week. This was poorly received at the time.
So it could be a combination of these factors that is resulting in such a strong performance from the BHP share price this Monday. No doubt investors aren't complaining.
At the current BHP share price, this ASX 200 mining giant has a market capitalisation of $192.85 billion, with a dividend yield of 11.7%.
