ASX closes lower; IGO, Liontown-led mining rally offset by broad losses
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The news: The Australian sharemarket finished lower as broad losses across the exchange offset a rally for lithium miners, on an improved outlook for the commodity, and gold miners that were tracking spot price gains.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.16% to end at 8,585.2 as 10 of the 11 sectors finished in the red.
The materials sector (+1.6%) was the only sectoral index to finish higher. IGO (+11.6%), Liontown (+11.8%) and Pilbara Minerals (+4.6%) were among the biggest gainers after Morgan Stanley analysts flagged increased electric vehicle sales in China and strong demand for battery energy storage systems.
Westgold Resources (+6.5%) entered a sales agreement with mineral exploration company Alicanto Minerals for the divestment of its Mt Henry-Selene gold project for $64.6 million. Gold miners Genesis Minerals (+6.4%), Regis Resources (+5.9%), Bellevue Gold (+5.1%) and Emerald Resources (+4.4%) also gained on a higher spot price.
BHP (+0.4%), Fortescue (+1.6%) and Rio Tinto (+0.8%) also finished higher as iron ore futures prices on the Singapore Exchange ticked higher, even after Commonwealth Bank head of commodities Vivek Dhar flagged falling Chinese demand in a research note.
Healthcare (-1.9%) was the worst performing sector as CSL (-2.1%), Sigma Healthcare (-0.7%), Pro Medicus (-2.9%), Resmed (-2.4%) and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (-2%) finished lower.
Biggest movers:
- Graincorp (-15.4%) – Biggest loser on the ASX 200 after it announced a binding agreement to sell its Canadian supply chain GrainsConnect to Canadian grain company Parrish & Heimbecker.
- Treasury Wine Estates (-9.3%) – Announced a group-wide transformation program, named 'TWE Ascent', targeting $100 million a year in cost improvements after acknowledging ongoing weakness in its US and China markets.
- Humm Group (+10.6%) – Received a non-binding takeover proposal from debt collector Credit Corp (-2.9%) worth 77 cents per Humm share in cash.
- Star Entertainment Group (+9.5%) – Formally appointed Bruce Mathieson Jnr to serve as CEO following the departure of Steve McCann on Tuesday.
- Deep Yellow (+6.9%) – Announced a power supply agreement with Namibia's state-owned utility group NamPower, as it prepares to construct its flagship Tumas project.
Other news:
- Santos (-1.2%) – Announced it will divest two non-core assets as part of its portfolio optimisation strategy.
- Tetratherix (-0.3%) – Announced the appointment of its new independent non-executive director Peter Gray, effective 19 December 2025, following David Bottomley's resignation.
- PointsBet (+0.6%) – Chief executive for Australia Andrew Catterall has been appointed as the company’s group chief executive, effective 1 February 2026 subject to customary gaming licensing and regulatory approvals.
- SGH (+0.1%) – Appointed John Gillam as chair, effective 1 February 2026. He replaces Terry Davis who announced his retirement earlier this year.
- Freightways Group (0%) – Agreed to buy the business and assets of Victoria-based delivery company VT Freight Express (VTFE) for $71 million.
- Boss Energy – Entered a trading halt before making an announcement about the conclusion and outcomes of a review of its Honeymoon project.
What’s ahead:
- Statistics New Zealand will release GDP data for the September quarter on Thursday at 8:45am AEDT.
