Australian shares lower as Rio Tinto tumbles on weak results, QBE jumps 6%

Perseus Mining

20/02/2026 24:14

Feb 20 (Reuters) - Australian shares eased on Friday, dragged by shares of Rio Tinto after the miner's flat annual earnings a day earlier missed estimates, although QBE Insurance QBE.AX limited overall losses on beating profit forecasts.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 0.2% to 9,069.1 points by 2342 GMT. The benchmark rose 0.9% on Thursday.

Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto RIO.AX dropped as much as 4%. The world's largest iron ore producer, on Thursday after-market hours, posted an annual profit that missed estimates due to weaker iron ore performance, although copper performance was strong.

The mining sub-index .AXMM rose 0.4% nonetheless, after top listed miner BHP BHP.AX added 0.7%, while gold stocks surged on the back of bullion prices that rose overnight on geopolitical tensions. GOL/

Shares of gold producer Perseus Mining PRU.AX soared as much as 5.5% on doubling its interim dividend and posting a stronger revenue.

The financials sub-index .AXFJ traded flat near record-high levels attained in the previous session, with losses from top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX offsetting gains from Westpac WBC.AX and ANZ ANZ.AX.

Shares of QBE Insurance QBE.AX soared 6% after beating full-year profit expectations on lower catastrophe claims and higher investment income.

Zip Co ZIP.AX stabilised, trading 1.4% after a sharp 34.4% tumble the previous day following first-half earnings that came below expectations. The buy-now, pay-later firm announced an A$50 million share buy-back programme on Friday.

Meanwhile, Ramsay Health Care's RHC.AX shares surged as much as 4.5% to their highest since mid-August 2025, after the hospital operator said it plans to distribute its 52.79% stake in Ramsay Sante GDSF.PA to its shareholders.

Technology stocks .AXIJ slid 2.6% after tracking Wall Street peers' overnight losses, with logistics software provider WiseTech Global's WTC.AX shares sliding 5%.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 dropped 1.2% to 13,284.58 points.

New Zealand posted a monthly trade deficit of NZ$519.00 million in January, data from Statistics New Zealand showed on Friday.

($1 = 1.4164 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Nichiket Sunil in Bengaluru; editing by Alan Barona)

 ((Nichiket.Sunil@thomsonreuters.com))

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