ASX closes lower; miners suffer as USD rebounds, commodities plunge
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The news: The Australian sharemarket finished lower as gold miners led a slump in the materials sector with the price of gold continuing to slide following a rebound in the US dollar and a broad metals rout.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 1.02% to end at 8,778.6 with eight of the 11 sectors finishing in the red.
The materials sector (-3.1%) was the worst performing as gold miners like Newmont Corporation (-10%), Emerald Resources (-9.3%) and Ora Banda Mining (-9%) followed the spot price lower. At 4:35pm AEDT the spot price of gold had fallen 5.3% to USD4,641.43 ($6,700.62) per ounce.
Biggest movers:
- Graincorp (-14%) – Guided lower earnings and profit for FY26 after warning of an oversupply in global grain markets and a slump in prices.
- Deep Yellow (-8.1%) – Executive director Gillian Swaby has resigned effective today but will remain with the company on a consulting basis until the end of the month.
- Catalyst Metals (-8%) – Chair David Jones will be replaced by Mark Connelly as a director and chair of the gold miner’s board, effective 2 March.
- Capricorn Metals (-7.7%) – Tempest Minerals has announced an extension of the completion date for the sale of its Yalgoo Project to Capricorn Metals to 14 February 2026.
Other news:
- Electro Optic Systems (-6.3%) – Told the exchange it has made “no unannounced decisions” about the location of its headquarters or its market listing in response to media reports it could soon move to Europe.
- KMD Brands (-5.4%) – Reported an 8% increase in group sales in the five months to December 2025, as improvements in its wholesale business offset lower margins.
- IMDEX (-2.6%) – Completed the acquisition of the remaining 49% equity in Australia-based geoscience software group Datarock for $31 million.
- BlueScope Steel (-1.5%) – Unveiled a $150 million extension to its ongoing FY26 productivity program, which RBC Capital Markets analyst Owen Birrell says could lift the company’s share price by $3.
What’s ahead:
- The Institute for Supply Management will release US purchasing managers’ index data for January on Tuesday at 2:00am AEDT.
- The Reserve Bank monetary policy board will make its first interest rate decision of the year and release its quarterly monetary policy statement on Tuesday at 2:30pm AEDT.
- RBA governor Michele Bullock will hold a press conference at 3:30pm AEDT.
