ASX breaks losing streak as miners rally
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The news: The Australian sharemarket ended a streak of three straight falls, closing 0.52% higher after dipping in early trading.
Gold and iron ore miners were among the day's big winners, while oil stocks pulled in the other direction.
The ASX 200 closed at 7,789.7, with 8 out of 11 sectors finishing in green.
ASX 200 gains:
- Miners — Gold producers made up six of the 10 top performing companies as the spot gold price surged. Iron ore giants Fortescue (2.7%), BHP (1.1%) and Rio Tinto (1%) also advanced, with materials (1.7%) the second best performing sector.
ASX 200 declines:
- Woodside Energy (-1.4%) — Led a decline by oil companies despite an increase in global crude prices. Energy (-0.4%) ended as the worst performing sector.
Executive moves:
- Myer (1.4%) — Announced that chief financial officer Matt Jackman will leave after eight years, and named a number of other appointments to bolster its executive leadership following its acquisition of Apparel Brands.
- Ansell (0.2%) — Appointed Brian Montgomery as its new CFO, following the retirement of Zubair Javeed in October.
Other news:
- Commonwealth Bank (-1.1%) — Announced a $97 billion investment in Anthropic, an AWS-backed AI lab pursuing artificial general intelligence.
- ANZ (-0.2%) — Secured a $2 billion limited guarantee to support the bank's services in the Pacific.
- Liontown Resources (4.9%) — Narrowed its half-year loss after starting its first production of spodumene concentrate during the period.
- Helia Group (-1.6%) — Downgraded by Macquarie, which said the mortgage insurance provider's current market conditions are "as good as they get".
- Lifestyle Communities (2.6%), Charter Hall (1.8%) — Citi upgraded its ratings on the two real estate investment trusts to 'buy', saying the recent selloff in Australian REITs has presented an attractive buying opportunity in the sector.
The Australian dollar is buying 62.93 US cents.
