ASX closes lower as banks and miners drag
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The news: The Australian sharemarket closed lower as banking and mining stocks dragged amid uncertainty around the Israel-Iran conflict.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said he would decide in two weeks whether to launch airstrikes.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.21% to end at 8505.5, with six of the 11 sectors finishing in red. The staples (-0.9%) sector was the worst performing amid losses for Woolworths (-1%) and Coles (-2.2%)
Betr (+5.3%) also made a last minute effort to win over PointsBet shareholders, lobbing a renewed all-scrip takeover proposal while its chair Matt Tripp personally sent an open letter to PointsBet shareholders to plead his case against Japanese entertainment company MIXI’s offer. PointsBet ultimately flagged that Betr's bid was still lower than MIXI's offer.
Biggest movers:
- Big Banks – Commonwealth Bank (-0.2%), NAB (-0.5%), ANZ (-2.5%) and Westpac (-1.1%) all finished lower. The broader finance (-0.6%) sector also finished lower. Separately, it was also announced today that former Liberal Senator and ANZ head of Asia engagement Simon Birmingham has been appointed as the next chief executive of the Australian Banking Association.
- Iron and Lithium miners – Mineral Resources (-6.2%) led losses on the ASX 200, closely followed by lithium miners Pilbara Minerals (-5%) and IGO (-3.7%). Champion Iron (-2.6%) also took big losses as Fortescue (-0.5%) and Rio Tinto (-1.3%) fell. Meanwhile, BHP (+0.2) finished higher. The broader materials (-0.2%) sector fell.
- Gold miners – Spot prices remained steady overnight amid geopolitical uncertainty but ticked down throughout the day as Israel-Iran tensions eased slightly. Even still Spartan Resources (+2.5%), Ramelius Resources (+2.3%) and Capricorn Metals (+2.3%) were among the gold miners that made gains. Regis Resources (+1.2%) also gained after Bell Potter analysts lifted their target price.
- Bowen Coking Coal (-48.6%) – The small-cap metallurgical coal miner warned it may close its Burton Mine Complex amid “depressed coal markets” and “unsustainable” Queensland government royalty fees.
Executive and board moves:
- Downer (-0.7%) – The engineering and services contractor announced the retirement of long-serving non-executive director Teresa Handicott.
- Web Travel Group (-0.4%) – Virgin Australia CEO Paul Scurrah and ex-chair of Baby Bunting Melanie Wilson will join the board from 1 July. Brad Holman will retire as a director on 30 September.
- Webjet Group (-1.8%) – Brad Holman will also retire from the Webjet board on the earlier date of 30 June.
Other news:
- Lendlease (+0.7%) – The property and infrastructure group completed its $235 million sale of Capella Capital to Japanese conglomerate Sojitz Corporation.
- Santos (-0.5%) – Morgans analysts downgraded their position on the stock from ‘hold’ to ‘trim’, arguing that the fossil fuel company’s early endorsement of the proposed $30 billion takeover from Saudi-Arabia state-owned Adnoc is “highly unusual” for an LNG deal.
Dividends announced:
- Transurban (+0.4%) – Announced it will pay 33 cents in dividends per stapled security for the six months to the end of June 2025.
What’s ahead:
- Statistics Canada will release retail sales data for April tonight at 10:30pm.
- The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia will release the June results of its monthly business outlook survey for the district tonight at 10:30pm.
- S&P Global will release its June flash figures on the purchasing managers’ index for Australia at 9:00am on Monday and throughout Monday evening for France, Germany, the UK and the US.
