ASX closes lower; mining rally offset by broad losses
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The news: The Australian sharemarket finished lower as broad losses offset a mining sector rally led by gold miners that delivered positive trading updates and tracked record gains for the spot price.
The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.37% to end at 8,782.9 with eight of the 11 sectors finishing in the red.
The materials sector was the best performing as BHP (+1.5%), Fortescue (+1.7%) and Rio Tinto (+2.6%) finished higher. Rio Tinto beat its copper production guidance for 2025 and achieved record Q4 iron ore production.
Gold miners Evolution Mining (+9.5%) and Westgold Resources (+9.6%) delivered quarterly production reports while Emerald Resources (+13.2%) increased the resource estimate at its Memot Gold Project by 27%. Spot gold set a new intraday peak of USD4,877.79 ($7238.90) per ounce as tensions due to US President Donald Trump's threat to takeover Greenland escalated.
The tech sector was the worst performing as WiseTech Global (-2.1%), Xero (-4.7%), Technology One (-3.1%) and NextDC (-1.4%) fell.
Biggest movers:
- Australian Strategic Minerals (+119.3%) – Entered a deal to be acquired by New York-listed uranium producer Energy Fuels in an all-stock deal. ASM shareholders would also receive a special dividend from the rare earth producer.
- Paladin Energy (+13.1%) – Delivered a 16% rise in uranium yellowcake production for the second quarter.
- Lynas Rare Earths (+6.7%) – Revenue lifted slightly despite a fall in production as rare earth prices soared.
- Vulcan Energy (+7%) recorded a strong production flow test result from a well in its Lionheart project in Germany's Upper Rhine Valley brine field, supporting the company's field development plan.
Other news:
- Ampol (+0.2%) – The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission moved its review of Ampol’s proposed acquisition of EG Australia into a phase two assessment.
What’s ahead:
- The UK Office of National Statistics will release GDP data for December at 6:00pm AEDT.
- The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland enters its third day on Wednesday. US President Donald Trump will address the conference at 12:30am AEDT on Thursday.
- The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release labour force data for December on Thursday at 11:30am AEDT.
