ASX closed higher as mining, real estate recovered
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The news: The Australian sharemarket finished higher as diversified miners lifted - tracking a rally in futures prices of the key steel-making input - the real estate sector recovered and all four of Australia’s largest banks posted gains.
The benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.59% to end at 8589.2, reversing most of the losses taken on Wednesday, as seven out of the 11 sectors finished in the green.
The materials sector (+1.2%) was the best performing as BHP (+1.2%), Fortescue (+1.9%) and Rio Tinto (+1%) all posted gains.
Gold miners also surged – making up half of the top 10 biggest gainers – as the spot price of gold ticked up through the day as the US dollar and US bond yields ticked down amid US President Donald Trump's tariff announcements on copper and Brazil. Regis Resources (+4%) and Evolution Mining (+3.6%) were among the biggest gainers.
Gains in the financial sector (+0.7%) were driven by Commonwealth Bank (+0.8%), NAB (+1.1%), Westpac (+0.5%) and ANZ (+0.8%). Real estate (+1%) also recovered as Goodman Group (+0.9%), Scentre Group (+1.1%) and Stockland (+0.9%) finished higher.
Biggest movers:
- Lifestyle Communities (+9.3%) – Was the biggest gainer on the ASX 200 after tanking 37.2% on Wednesday in the fallout of a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruling that the deferred management fees it was charging some residents were void.
- Lovisa Holdings (+5.1%) – Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on the stock and reiterated their ‘overweight’ rating amid accelerated store growth.
- Platinum Asset Management (+13.1%) – UBS and Morningstar analysts expect the investment manager's impending merger with rival firm L1 Capital to boost future earnings.
- Domino’s (-4%) – The worst performing stock on the ASX 200 a week on from the surprise resignation of its chief executive Mark van Dyck. On Tuesday, UBS analysts upgraded their position on the stock from ‘neutral’ to ‘buy’ while cutting their target price.
- Healthcare sector (-0.5%) – Losses in the worst performing sector were in part driven by CSL (-0.5%) a day after Trump said he intends to impose a 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals.
Other news:
- Netwealth (-2.5%) – The investment platform reported a 28% jump in funds under administration for financial year 2025 on the back of record 12-month inflows.
- Lactalis and Fonterra – Dairy group Fonterra is closer to divesting its global consumer businesses after the ACCC waved through its proposed sale of the assets to French multinational Lactalis. Fonterra delisted from the ASX in late February 2025.
- Vulcan Energy Resources – Entered a trading halt and announced plans to complete a €30 million ($54 million) raise by the issuance of new shares on the Frankfurt and Australian exchanges.
What’s ahead:
- The United States Department of Labor will release weekly unemployment claims data tonight at 10:30pm.
- The UK Office of National Statistics will release its estimate for gross domestic product data for May tomorrow at 4:00pm.
