Iron ore cops a belting and energy prices could stay high until 2025

The S&P/ASX200 dropped 22.20 points or 0.33% to 6,607.10. Over the last five days, the index has lost 1.39% and 9.02% over the last 52 weeks.

Bottom-performing stocks in the index were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) down 8.66% and Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) down 7.94%.

Iron ore futures plunged in late trade.

Singapore iron ore futures for July are down 4.8% to $US108.60, while August futures trade 5.7% lower to $US106.75: a year ago a tonne of iron ore was selling for more than $US200.

That fall in iron ore led to sell downs of some major companies including BHP Group Ltd (LSE:BHP, ASX:BHP) which was down 5.5% to near eight-month lows of $37.80, while Rio Tinto Ltd fell 7.4% to a seven-month low, along with Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG), which was down 4.6% to its own seven-month low.