The world’s largest miner redeemed itself by ending the 12 months to 30 June back in the black with an operating profit of $5.9bn, recovering from last year’s loss of $6.4bn.
However the group’s underlying profit of $6.7bn fell short of market expectations for $7.4bn, according to data from Reuters.
The Anglo-Australian miner also cut its net debt by $10bn to $16.3bn.
After mounting pressure from activist investors, including lots of noise from Elliott Advisors, BHP has agreed to sell its US shale oil unit, which it controversially purchased at the height of the oil boom when prices hovered above $100 per barrel.
Chief executive Andrew McKenzie said the group had determined its US onshore assets are “non-core” and confirmed it is “actively pursuing options to exit these assets for value”.
The pieces of good news saw the miner’s shares trading 3% higher, at the time of writing.
The FTSE 100 miner’s share price has rallied since its lows during the commodities crash in early 2016, rising from £6.15p per share to its current £14.18p per share.
The swift recovery of the mining sector generally is an indication that the “metal market mania” is still in full swing, according to Rebecca O’Keefe, head of investment at Interactive Investor.
And she adds the current mining rally is less about the Trump trade and “all about what happens in China” with President Xi Jingping’s Belt and Road initiative.
“The combination of increased demand and the reduction of overcapacity in China has squeezed metal prices higher and seen miners rally strongly.
“Whether this rally will continue is subject to much debate and there is some scepticism about just how sustainable prices are, having risen so far, so fast – but investors who have bought into the Chinese story over recent weeks are doing very nicely for the moment.”
Investors were also amenable to Persimmon’s half year update, pushing its share price up over 3% within the first half hour of markets opening on Tuesday.
Persimmon’s 30% uptick in profits to £457.4m, amidst a slowdown in economic growth, led Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, to proclaim the results “have a bit of a swagger about them”.
The UK’s second largest housebuilder also recorded double digit revenue growth, up 12% to £1.7bn, and managed to sell a greater number of homes (7,794) at 4% higher average selling prices of £213,262.
Demand was so strong over the first six months of the year that group chief executive Jeff Fairburn confirmed the builder’s forward sales totalling £2.1bn are 15% ahead of those in 2016.
“The market remains confident,” observed Fairburn, adding that “customer interest in our developments remains strong,” with the private reservation rate up 2% year on year even during the quieter summer weeks.
“Whilst we remain vigilant to changes in market conditions we also recognise we are in a strong position to take advantage of opportunities that arise. We are looking forward to a good autumn sales season.”
Although the recent scare over the early withdrawal of Help to Buy showed how vulnerable the sector is to a correction, for now “the UK housing sector is still sitting pretty” with low interest rates and weak supply boosting prices, said Khalaf.
“Policymakers will think twice about withdrawing support from the property market, as falling house prices don’t tend to draw cheers from the crowd.”
