ASX shares lift as Lynas Rare Earths leads gains ahead of Trump-Albanese meeting
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The news: The Australian sharemarket finished higher as Lynas Rare Earths led a rally for rare earths producers ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The pair are expected to discuss a deal on rare earths.
The benchmark ASX 200 rose 0.41% to end at 9,031.9 with nine out of the 11 sectors finishing in the green.
The materials sector (-1.4%) was the worst performing as gold miners tracked a decline in the spot price of the commodity as it eased from record gains. Emerald Resources (-9.4%), Catalyst Metals (-8%) and Greatland Resources (-6.8%) were among the biggest losers on the ASX 200.
Meanwhile, Lynas Rare Earths (+6.6%) was the best performer across the ASX 200 and led a rally for rare earth mining stocks ahead of a meeting between the Trump-Albanese meeting, in which Albanese is expected to seek support for a price floor on Australian rare earths in the wake of incoming Chinese export controls. Small-caps Arafura Rare Earths (+18.5%) and Australian Rare Earths (+45.5%) also gained.
The finance sector (+1.5%) was the best performing as Commonwealth Bank (+2.3%), Westpac (+1.2%), NAB (+1.1%) and ANZ (+0.4%) all finished higher.
Biggest movers:
- Zip (+4.3%) – Recorded first-quarter total transaction volume (TTV) of $3.9 billion, up 38.7% compared to the prior corresponding period. It also upgraded it US TTV growth to above 40% from above 35% and doubled its share buyback limit to $100 million.
- Neuren Pharmaceuticals (+4.2%) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted fast track designation for the biotech's drug NNZ-2591 for the treatment of Phelan-McDermid syndrome.
- Beach Energy (+4.1%) – Reported a 15% quarter-on-quarter uptick in sales volumes and 18% gain in revenue for the first quarter.
- Perpetual (+3.1%) – Reported assets under management of $232 billion as at 30 September 2025, an increase of 2.3% compared to 30 June.
- Deep Yellow (-18.8%) – Managing director and CEO John Borshoff will step down from the role next month having led the uranium miner since 2016. He will be replaced in an acting capacity by Deep Yellow's chief financial officer Craig Barnes.
- Bapcor (-17.7%) – Announced a slew of cost saving measures and flagged a $12 million hit to first-half earnings after identifying "unsatisfactory operational practices requiring immediate attention" at its tools and equipment business within the trade segment.
Other news:
- Mesoblast (+1.5%) – Issued a quarterly activity and cash flow report, as cell therapy revenue gained, driven by sales in its flagship product Ryoncil.
- Qualitas (-0.6%) – Managing director and co-founder Andrew Schwartz has sold about 15.1 million shares in the real estate investment fund to a “large global listed equities manager”.
- Infratil (-1.3%) – Dual-listed infrastructure investor Infratil has agreed to buy a 4.92% stake in New Zealand energy company Contact Energy from TECT Holdings for NZD437.7 million ($386.5 million).
- DroneShield (-2.6%) – Its chief technology officer Angus Bean has moved into a chief product officer role, with vice president of software engineering Angus Harris set to move into the CTO role. The company also announced its Q3 FY25 revenue was a record $92.9 million.
- Light & Wonder (-3.4%) – Is "disappointed" with a Nevada Court ruling that granted rival outfit Aristocrat a renewed motion to access math models for certain Light & Wonder games, as part of an ongoing legal battle between the two gambling machine makers.
- Betr (-6.4%) – Completed a $40.6 million selective share buy back for shareholders that had accepted the online betting company’s all-scrip off-market takeover bid for rival PointsBet.
What’s ahead:
- RBA assistant governor financial system Brad Jones will speak on a panel titled ‘managing systemic liquidity risk’ at the derivatives trading forum hosted by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association tomorrow at 10:45am AEDT.
- Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, Audinate, Cleanaway, IDP Education, Judo Capital Holdings, and Pengana International equities will all hold their respective annual general meetings on Tuesday.
