ASX closes lower as banks, healthcare offset mining gains
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The news: The Australian stock market closed lower after big banks and healthcare sector stocks negated huge gains in the mining sector.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.43% to end at 8514.2, with eight of the 11 sectors finishing in red.
Biggest movers:
- Reece Group (-18.7%) – The plumbing supplier was the biggest loser on the ASX 200 after it said it expects full-year earnings to fall year on year, citing ongoing housing market softness in Australia, New Zealand and the US.
- Financial sector (-1.5%) – Commonwealth Bank (-2.8%), NAB (-1.6%), ANZ (-1.8%) and Westpac (-1.9%) all finished lower.
- Healthcare sector (-1.4%) – CSL (-2.4%), Sigma Healthcare (-2%) and Resmed (-2.6%) finished lower while Pro Medicus (+1%) finished higher.
- Alcoa Corporation (+7.7%) – The aluminium miner was the best performing stock on the ASX 200 as aluminium prices tracked up. UBS analysts expect short term prices to lift on supply constraints after mining licences, including for bauxite, were cancelled in Guinea and China alumina production moderates.
Mining news:
- Iron ore miners – The iron ore futures index price shot up as sentiment in the steel market improved after a recent sell-off due to renewed steel production curbs, according to ANZ research. Shares in BHP (+3.9%), Rio Tinto (+4.6%) and Fortescue (+3.6%) finished higher. Champion Iron (+5.16) also announced that its Canadian subsidiary priced a $764m debt offering. The wider materials sector finished 2.3% higher.
- Capstone Copper (+6.7%) – One of the best performing stocks on the ASX 200, driven by a copper price surge as traders continuing importing the metal to the US ahead of a potential copper tariff.
- Gold miners - Emerald Resources (-3.5%), Northern Star Resources (-2.7%) and Regis Resources (-2.2%) fell as haven-demand ebbed.
Executive and board moves:
- IGO (+2.7%) – The critical minerals miner said it would reduce the size of its board, transition the chair role and recruit multiple new independent non-executive directors.
- Kelsian (+0.5%) – Silk Logistics chair Terry Sinclair will join the Kelsian board from 1 September.
- Suncorp (-0.6%) – Suncorp chair Christine McLoughlin will retire after a decade on the insurer's board. She will be replaced by non-executive director Duncan West after the company’s annual general meeting on 25 September.
Other news:
- Alliance Aviation Services (+15.1%) – Sold a majority of its Embraer E190-E1 spare parts inventory to Florida-based AVIAN Inventory Management for USD32.5 million ($49.59 million).
- Coronado (+3.9%) – The coal miner confirmed it has engaged in talks with unnamed parties about a potential sale of a "minority interest in certain assets", but has not received any binding proposals to date.
- PointsBet (+0.4%) – Expects revenue and EBITDA for financial year 2025 to come in at the bottom of previously announced guidance.
- Austal (+0.3%) – The shipbuilder Austal has secured $488 million in credit facilities from Export Finance Australia and other tier one institutions, as the final piece of its $1.2 billion capital expansion program in the US.
- La Trobe Private Credit Fund (-0.3%) – Debuted on the ASX after completing a $300 million equity raise.
- Woolworths (-1%) – Intends to close its customer website MyDeal by 30 September, as part of efforts to stem losses from its online marketplace business.
- BWP Trust (-1.1%) – The property investor entered into an implementation deed with Wesfarmers (+0.4%) to inernalise BWP management for $142.6 million, reset the terms of its leases with Bunnings and commit to co-investments at some Bunnings sites.
- ANZ (-1.8%) – ANZ has hired McKinsey to undertake a review of its culture and risk management after a series of failures led to a crackdown from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
- Linq Minerals (-5%) – Debuted on the ASX after completing a $10 million equity raise.
What’s ahead:
- The US Bureau of Economic Analysis will release data on the core personal consumption expenditure index for May tonight at 10:30pm AEST.
- The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing will release data on the purchasing manager’s index for May on Monday at 11:30am AEST.
