Shares in iron ore magnate Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) have stumbled from the open today and now trade 4% down at $19.82 apiece.
Meanwhile, the price of iron ore continues its downward run today, with prices softening by more than 5% over the previous month of trade.
In wider market moves, the S&P/ASX 300 Metals & Mining Index (ASX: XMM) is also down by around 2% today.
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What's up with the Fortescue share price?
Fortescue joins a list of mining giants incurring losses today as investors sell off mining stocks in favour of tech and software names.
Whilst the mining index has dipped by around 2% today, the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) has gained by a similar amount.
Certainly not helping Fortescue's prospects today is the price of iron ore, which has slipped from a high of US$159 per tonne in early March to now trade at US$130/tonne.
"Prices for iron ore cargoes with a 63.5% iron content for delivery into Tianjin rallied to an almost three-week peak of around $135-per-tonne on worries over supply shortages and better demand prospects in the metals market due to pledges for more stimulus in top consumer China," Trading Economics reports.
"On the flip side [is] persistent worries that slowing global growth will hit metals demand and limit the metal's upside momentum," it added.
Given Fortescue is a price taker on iron ore, its share price can and does fluctuate with volatility in both the metal itself and the wider commodity sector.
With the price of iron ore taking a backward step in recent weeks, the story starts to form as to why investors might be selling off Fortescue shares in the near term.
That, and the uncertainty around the outlook for the global metals market may also be weighing in, particularly seeing the widespread selloff in ASX miners today.
In the last 12 months, the Fortescue share price has slipped almost 7% into the red, despite holding onto a 3% gain this year to date.
