Rio Tinto Slumps Most in Five Weeks on Share Sale Speculation

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-largest mining company, fell the most in five weeks in Sydney trading on speculation the company may abandon an investment deal with Aluminum Corp. of China and sell shares instead. London-based Rio fell a fourth day, dropping as much as 9.7 percent to A$58.95 on the Australian stock exchange. The stock was at A$59.11 at 10:40 a.m. in Sydney and is headed for its biggest one-day decline since April 7. The shares fell 4.7 percent yesterday and 11 percent in London trading, after London’s Telegraph newspaper reported that Rio may offer as much as 5 billion pounds ($7.6 billion) of shares to existing investors if it cannot proceed with its transaction with Chinalco, as the Chinese company is known.