ASX closes higher; Catalyst Metals surges 15% on record quarterly gold output
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The news: The Australian sharemarket finished higher as gold miner Catalyst Metals surged a day after reporting record gold production in the December quarter.
The benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.48% to end at 8,903.9 with eight of the 11 sectors finishing in the green.
The real estate sector was the best performing as Goodman Group (+1.2%), Scentre Group (+1%), Stockland (+0.7%) and Vicinity Centres (+1.6%) finished higher. The financial sector lifted as Commonwealth Bank (+0.5%), Westpac (+1.8%), NAB (+0.7%), ANZ (+0.5%) and Macquarie Group (+2.6%) posted gains.
Commonwealth Bank has also ended digital bank Bankwest’s status as a standalone employer, which the Finance Sector Union warned puts staff at “significant risk”.
Energy was the worst performing sector as oil producers Woodside Energy (-1.4%), Santos (-1.6%), Karoon Energy (-3.4%) and Beach Energy (-1.3%) tracked crude oil prices lower as fears of a US attack on OPEC member Iran eased.
Biggest movers:
- Catalyst Metals (+14.7%) – Led gains on the ASX 200 on Friday. On Thursday, the miner announced record quarterly gold production in the three months to December.
- Capstone Copper (+7.1%) – Reported a 22% year-on-year increase in copper production in 2025 to 224,764 tonnes, driven by the ramp-up of its Mantoverde development and its Mantos Blancos debottlenecking project.
- Uranium producers – Deep Yellow (+7.5%), Paladin Energy (+4.1%) and Boss Energy (+0.3%) saw their share prices lift after analysts at Macquarie and RBC Capital Markets said they expect uranium prices to increase throughout the year.
Other news:
- IperionX (+2.6%) – Received the final USD4.6 million ($6.8 million) tranche of the previously announced USD47.1 million award from the US Department of War to scale up titanium production and expand capacity at itsTitanium Manufacturing Campus.
- James Hardie (+2%) – Taken steps to optimise its manufacturing footprint by shutting down its facilities in Fontana, California, Summerville and South Carolina within the next 60 days. This is expected to realise annualised cost savings of about $25 million.
- Elanor Commercial Property Fund (+0.8%) – Despite agreeing to transition the management of Elanor Commercial Property Fund to family office the Lederer Group, ECF’s independent board committee has recommended shareholders vote against the proposal.
- Qube (+0.4%) – Received confirmation from Macquarie Asset Management that it is continuing its exclusive due diligence for a proposed $11.6 billion takeover offer. The due diligence period will run until 1 February 2026.
What’s ahead:
- Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey will address the Bellagio Group Meeting of central bankers and economists at 9:00pm AEDT. This was previously mistakenly reported as taking place on Tuesday.
- The National Bureau of Statistics of China will release a slew of economic data including GDP, unemployment and industrial production on Monday at 1:00pm AEDT.
