The Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price is out of form on Thursday.
In afternoon trade, the mining giant's shares are down almost 2% to $106.28.
This compares unfavourably to the ASX 200 index, which is up 0.3% at the time of writing.
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What's going on with the Rio Tinto share price?
The Rio Tinto share price is falling today following a poor night of trade for base metals.
This has put pressure on the entire materials sector, which has led to the S&P/ASX 200 Materials index falling 0.8% this afternoon.
This makes the sector the worst performer on the Australian share market on Thursday.
What's happening?
According to CommSec, base metal prices tumbled after data revealed that Chinese new home prices have fallen sharply. It explained:
Base metal prices were weaker on Wednesday with nickel recording a 9.1% decline. Copper also fell in response to data showing that Chinese new home prices recorded the biggest decline in more than seven years. But supporting copper is an upcoming strike announced by workers at Chile's Escondida, the world's largest copper mine.
Is this a buying opportunity?
A recent note out of Goldman Sachs reveals that its analysts have a buy rating and $112.60 price target on the mining giant's shares.
Based on the current Rio Tinto share price, this implies modest potential upside of 6% for investors.
However, let's not forget dividends. Goldman is expecting the miner to pay a US$4.20 (A$6.23) per share dividend in FY 2023. This represents a 5.9% fully franked dividend yield, which stretches the total potential return to almost 12% for investors over the next 12 months.
