The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price started the day in the green today before taking a steep fall.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) iron ore miner closed yesterday at $44.86. Just before the lunch hour, shares were trading at $45.60, up 1.7% for the day.
Then they tumbled 5.0% to $43.34.
At the time of writing, shares have regained some of those losses and are currently changing hands for $43.83 apiece.
Still, that sees the BHP share price down 2.3% on what started as a positive trading day.
And it's not just BHP stock coming under intraday selling pressure.
Shares in Fortescue Ltd (ASX: FMG) are down 5.4%, while the Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) share price is down 1.2%. Both ASX 200 mining stocks were also trading in positive territory earlier today.
So, what's suddenly put the big Aussie miners under selling pressure?
Why are investors bidding down the BHP share price?
The BHP share price is highly sensitive to moves in the iron ore price, as the industrial metal is the miner's biggest revenue earner.
Two weeks ago, BHP, along with Rio Tinto and Fortescue, enjoyed a sizeable boost to their fortunes after China announced some unexpectedly large stimulus measures.
With Chinese demand for the steel-making metal declining amid the nation's sub-par economic growth and struggling property markets, the iron ore price fell from US$144 per tonne in January this year to US$90 per tonne in mid-September.
Following on the renewed Chinese stimulus measures, the iron ore price reached US$114 per tonne earlier today.
But that's now slipped below US$110 per tonne, putting the BHP share price under pressure.
And the reason is really the flip side of the coin that's helped lift the ASX 200 miner's fortunes over the past two weeks.
In afternoon trade today, ASX investors received news from China's National Development and Reform Commission. Those hoping for another round of outsized stimulus measures from the highly anticipated meeting were disappointed.
"We are fully confident in achieving the annual economic and social development targets," NDRC chairman Zheng Shanjie said after the meeting, which failed to detail any additional major stimulus measures while promising to speed up spending programs.
Commenting on the announcement, Lynn Song, chief economist of Greater China at ING Bank, said (quoted by Bloomberg)
I would say at least in the early going, the tone of the NDRC press conference in general appeared to show less urgency than what the market was hoping for, with the words 'stability' and 'progress', and not immediately delivering on a major fiscal policy push as many were expecting.
Moving forward, the market trend will likely depend on the speed and strength of further policy follow-ups from other ministries.
The BHP share price is down 13% in 2024.
