ASX finishes at record close as materials sector leads surge
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The news: The Australian sharemarket surged higher as the materials sector led gains, even as major rare earth producers finished lower or flat despite Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump announcing a new critical minerals investment agreement overnight.
The benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.7% to end at 9,094.7 with 10 out of the 11 sectors finishing in the green.
The materials sector (+1.7%) finished higher as BHP (+2.3%), Fortescue (+1.3%) and Rio Tinto (+0.9%) posted gains. BHP reaffirmed its production guidance but flagged “some acceleration” in growth.
South32 (+4.5%) finished higher after reiterating its FY26 guidance following a broadly flat September quarter in terms of production volume.
Gold miners also surged as the spot price of the commodity remained near record highs, with Regis Resources (+5.6%) and Evolution Mining (+4.4%) among the biggest gainers.
However, Lynas Rare Earths (-7.6%) finished lower even after Albanese and Trump announced a new critical minerals investment framework overnight. Arafura Rare Earths (0%), which has received conditional approval for a USD100 million equity investment under the new framework, finished flat while Iluka Resources (-0.1%) finished slightly lower.
Biggest movers:
- Hub24 (+10.6%) – Total FUA grew 30% year on year, or 7.4% quarter over quarter, to $146.5 billion.
Executive and board moves:
- Pengana International Equities (+2.4%) – Three board members were removed at the company’s annual general meeting and a strategic review of the listed investment corporation.
- Super Retail group (+1.5%) – Super Retail Group has appointed the boss of its outdoor retail brand BCF, Paul Bradshaw, as its new group managing director and chief executive, effective 1 November.
- QBE (-0.1%) – Appointed the managing director of its reinsurance business QBE Re, Chris Killourhy, as its new chief financial officer.
- NAB (-0.3%) – Reshuffled its executive leadership team, including the promotion of Shane Conway to transformation group executive and the retirement of group general counsel Sharon Cook.
What’s ahead:
- Statistics Canada will release consumer price index data for September tonight at 11:30pm AEDT.
- Companies holding their annual general meeting tomorrow include Argo Investments, Reliance Worldwide Corporation, National Storage REIT, APA Group, Fletcher Building, Magellan Financial Group, Codan, Adairs, Argo Global Infrastructure and Sigma Healthcare.
