ASX ekes out small gain ahead of June quarter CPI release
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The news: The Australian sharemarket eked out a slight gain despite spending much of the day lower, as broad gains offset losses taken by some of the biggest banks ahead of tomorrow's release of closely watched quarterly CPI data.
The benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.08% to end at 8704.6 with seven of the 11 sectors finishing in the green.
Real Estate (-0.4%) was the worst performing sector with Scentre (-0.8%) and Goodman Group (-0.4%) posting losses while Stockland (0%) finished flat.
Meanwhile, Energy (+0.7%) was the best performing as Woodside (+1.6%) and Santos (+2.1%) finished higher. Woodside announced that it has agreed to assume operatorship of Bass Strait gas assets from ExxonMobil Australia, giving it control of infrastructure that typically meets 40% of Australian east coast domestic gas demand.
Financials (+0.1%) finished slightly higher. NAB (+1.2%) and ANZ (+0.03%) finished higher as Commonwealth Bank (-0.4%) and Westpac (-0.06%) finished lower. ASIC announced that Westpac, ANZ, and Bendigo Bank (-0.3%), among others, have committed to paying refunds to low-income customers after they were charged excessive fees.
Biggest movers:
- EVT (+3.7%) – Best performer on the ASX 200 despite there being no company-specific news.
- Worley (+3.2%) – US-based LNG company Venture Global reached a final investment decision on its CP2 project, allowing the Australian engineering group to proceed with its multi-billion dollar engineering, procurement and construction contract.
- Clarity Pharmaceuticals (+2.9%) – Completed a $203 million institutional placement with a small group of investors close to the company on Monday.
- Ramelius Resources (+1.5%) – Reported lower-than-expected all-in sustaining costs for the fourth quarter of financial year 2025. Some rival gold miners like Perseus Mining (-2%) fell amid after the asset's spot price fell overnight.
- Viva Energy (-6.4%) – The oil refiner and retailer’s convenience sales fell 10.4% year on year although it reported unaudited earnings.
- Boss Energy (-5.5%) – Analysts slashed their price targets on the uranium miner after it warned of "potential challenges" in hitting nameplate capacity at its Honeymoon uranium project in South Australia and set high cost guidance for FY26 on Monday.
- Liontown Resources (-4%) – Missed H2 FY25 guidance for the sale and production of spodumene concentrate.
Other news:
- Capricorn Metals (+0.4%) – Received Western Australian government approval for plans to expand mining activities at three open pits and announced that the mineral resource estimation (MRE) at its Mount Gibson gold project has increased.
- Monadelphous Group (-0.9%) – Awarded $110 million worth of new construction and maintenance contracts, including for work at Rio Tinto’s Parker Point Stockyard Sustaining Project in Western Australia.
What’s ahead:
- The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will release data from the job openings and labour turnover survey for June at midnight.
- The Australian Bureau of Statistic will release consumer price index data for the June quarter tomorrow at 11:30am.
- Atlassian co-founder and Tech Council of Australia chair Scott Farquhar will deliver a speech to the National Press Club of Australia tomorrow at 12:30pm.
