ASX closes lower; Liontown leads lithium rally on improved forecasts
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The news: The Australian stock market finished lower amid broad losses, while lithium miners continued rallying after UBS analysts on Friday lifted their forecasts for the commodity's price amid higher battery energy storage system demand.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.12% to end at 8,624.4 with eight of the 11 sectors finishing in the red.
The utilities sector (-0.9%) was the worst performing as Origin Energy (-1%), APA Group (-0.8%) and Mercury NZ (-3.2%) finished lower. Meanwhile, the telecommunications sector (+1.1%) was a top performer as Telstra (+1.2%) and REA Group (+1.9%) finished higher.
Biggest movers:
- Lithium miners – Liontown (+14.8%), Pilbara Minerals (+6.1%) and Mineral Resources (+2.6%) were among the top performing stocks in the ASX 200 today after UBS analysts lifted their forecasts on Friday amid an 11% increase in demand of Battery Energy Storage Systems.
Executive moves:
- DigiCo Infrastructure REIT (-1.2%) – HMC Capital's DigiCo Infrastructure REIT has appointed AirTrunk's former deputy chief executive Michael Juniper as its new CEO, effective immediately.
- Sparc Technologies (0%) – Appointed former Queensland state government deputy director-general hydrogen and future fuels as its inaugural chief executive officer, effective 8 December 2025.
Other news:
- Telix Pharmaceuticals (-1.5%) – Dosed its first patient for the second part of a global study to evaluate the lead prostate cancer therapy candidate TLX591 for patients with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer.
- National Storage REIT (+2.2%) – Entered into a scheme implementation deed with Brookfield Asset Management and Singapore's GIC over its $4 billion takeover.
- TechnologyOne (+0.4%) – Publicly backed its chief financial officer Cale Bennett after shareholders queried the executive's former role at embattled travel group Corporate Travel Management.
What’s ahead:
- The Reserve Bank of Australia will make an interest rate decision tomorrow at 2:30pm AEDT.
- RBA governor Michele Bullock will hold a press conference tomorrow at 3:30pm AEDT.
