ASX closes higher as copper, oil producers rally

The materials sector (+1.6%) also finished higher as copper miners were buoyed by an increase in the price of the metal due to a deadly supply shock in Indonesia.

Capstone Copper (+10.8%) and Sandfire Resources (+7.6%) led gains on the ASX 200. Diversified miners Rio Tinto (+3.6%), BHP (+3.6%) and South32 (+2.7%) also finished higher.

Biggest movers:

• Gold miners – Tracked the spot price of gold down after the release of higher than expected new home sales in the US during August. Catalyst Metals (-7.8%), Westgold Resources (-5.4%), Vault Minerals (-3.8%), Ramelius Resources (-3.5%) and Emerald Resources (-3.3%) were among the biggest losers.
• Deterra Royalties (-5.3%) – On Wednesday, announced the sale of its non-core gold offtake assets, alongside its St Ives and Dandoko gold royalties, to Nasdaq- and Toronto-listed Vox Royalty Corp for a combined $91 million. Macquarie analysts cut back their earnings per share estimates but reiterated their 12-month target price and ‘neutral’ rating.

Executive and board moves:

• Whitehaven Coal (+1.2%) – Raymond Zage will not stand for re-election to the board at the company’s next annual general meeting on 30 October.
• Nine Entertainment (+0.4%) – Chair Catherine West is set to retire from the board in November, with independent non-executive director and former News Corp CEO Peter Tonagh picked as chair-elect.
• SGH (-1.8%) – Terry Davis will retire as chair in 2026. Audit and risk committee chair Annabelle Chaplan will also retire from the board in February 2026.
• Sonic Healthcare (-1%) – Chief executive Colin Goldschmidt will retire in November after 32 years in the role.

Other news:

• Star Entertainment Group (+2.2%) – The suspension of The Star Gold Coast's casino licence has been deferred until 30 September 2026, an extension of one year. The appointment of the special manager Nicholas Weeks has been extended by the same period.
• Nickel Industries (+1.4%) – Completed the issuance of USD800 million ($1.2 billion) of debt.
• Elders (+0.9%) – A provisional date of 9 October has now been set for the ACCC's decision on the proposed acquisition by Elders of rival Delta Agribusiness.
• Macquarie Group (-1.2%) – Macquarie Investment Management admitted to contravening the Corporations Act after 3,000 superannuation fund members it was a trustee for were invested into the collapsed Shield Master Fund. Macquarie will pay back super members the amount they invested in which will total $321 million.
• Liontown Resources (-0.6%) – Reported a statutory loss after tax of $193 million for the 2025 financial year, following the first full 12 months of operations at its flagship Kathleen Valley lithium mine.
• Computershare (-0.4%) – Agreed to sell its UK mortgage services business, Computershare Loan Services, to credit management and technology group Pepper Advantage.
• Premier Investments (-0.2%) – Delivered a 31.1% year-on-year increase in net profit after tax. This includes the contributions of Apparel Brands, which was sold to Myer in January 2025. Profit from continuing operations after tax fell 22.5%.
• Monadelphous Group (-0.1%) – Awarded new construction contracts with mining giants BHP and Fortescue worth a combined $220 million.

What’s ahead:

• The US Bureau of Economic Analysis will release gross domestic product data for the second quarter of 2025 tonight at 10:30pm AEST.
• The US Department of Labor will release weekly unemployment claims data tonight at 10:30pm AEST.