ASX closes lower; Gold miners tank as record breaking rally eases
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The news: The Australian sharemarket finished lower as gold miners tumbled.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.13% to end at 8,958.3 even though three out of the 11 sectors finished in red.
The materials sector (-2.1%) was the worst performing after as gold miners tracked losses in the gold price after it broke the USD4,000 ($6,091.43) per ounce mark on Wednesday. Eight of the top 10 worst performing stocks were gold miners. Genesis Materials (-5.6%) was the worst performer followed by Regis Resources (-5.5%) and Ramelius Resources (-5.4%).
BHP (-2.1%), Rio Tinto (-1.7%) and Fortescue (-1.5%) also faced losses. On Thursday, it was reported that a price dispute between China’s state-run iron ore buyer China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG) and BHP could continue into early 2026.
Biggest movers:
- Netwealth (+5.3%) – Announced record first-quarter net flows on Thursday. UBS retained its price target of $33.50 and 'neutral' rating but noted that the stock has underperformed rival Hub24 by 10% since its FY25 result.
- Elders (+3.7%) – Citi analysts reiterated their buy rating on the stock but cut their target price by 1.7% to $8.45 after the competition regulator approved its deal to acquire Delta Agribusiness on Thursday. The analysts were “surprised” by the impact of dry conditions in South Australia on Q3 results but are “encouraged” by improved trading in Q4.
Other news:
- DigiCo Infrastructure REIT (+1.3%) – Chief executive officer Chris Maher will step down from the board, effective today, to balance the number of independent and non-independent directors.
- Ventia (+0.6%) – Secured a $935 million contract with the Australian Defence Force to deliver Defence Clothing Services over seven years from May 2026, with 13 years of extensions available. The existing National Clothing Stores Services contract has been extended to ensure a smooth start of the new contract.
- Chorus (+0.5%) – The New Zealand government is exploring selling its stake in telecoms business Chorus.
- Mineral Resources (-1.2%) – Appointed ex-NAB executive Susan Ferrier and former managing director of Xanadu Mines Colin Moorhead as independent non-executive directors, effective today.
- GQG Partners (-0.6%) – During September Its funds under management fell USD400 million and its net outflows hit USD1.7 billion.
- MAC Copper (-0.2%) – Finished the last day of dealings for its shares after a court approved South African gold miner Harmony Gold’s takeover of MAC Copper. It will be suspended from quotation before market open on Monday and will be delisted in November.
What’s ahead:
- Statistics Canada will release employment data for September tonight at 11:30pm AEDT.
- The University of Michigan will release preliminary consumer sentiment and inflation expectations data for October overnight at 1:00am AEDT.
- The New York, Toronto and Tokyo stock exchanges will not trade on Monday due to public holidays in their respective countries.
