- Markets @ Midday: Listen here at lunchtime or find all Market Matters Podcasts on Spotify.
The ASX went on a round trip today, rising early, giving it all back and trading lower through to midday before popping in the afternoon, closing almost flat for the session. The headline index masked another fairly weak session underneath, with the banks and Healthcare under pressure while Energy and Materials did most of the heavy lifting with the Big Australian and Rio keeping the index afloat accounting for +30pts of gain between the two heavyweights. The Australian 3-year yields pushed to 4.84%, their highest area since 2011, and another economist joined the rate-hike camp, with RBC now expecting the RBA to lift rates by 25bp in November to 4.60%. That combination continues to make life difficult for the market, especially rate-sensitive areas, with Consumer Discretionary getting whacked.
- ASX 200: -9.41pts (-0.11%) to 8,911.40
- AUD/USD: 0.7236, flat
- Best sectors: Energy +1.73%, Materials +1.51%, Utilities +1.01%
- Worst sectors: Healthcare -1.50%, Consumer Disc. -1.14%, Communications -1.04%
- Financials remained a major drag, falling around 1.3% during the session. CBA (ASX: CBA) -2.17% to $155.25, NAB (ASX: NAB) -1.54% to $38.27, Westpac (ASX: WBC) -0.55% to $34.39 and ANZ (ASX: ANZ) -0.41% to $36.79 were all weaker as the market continued to price a more hawkish RBA outlook. CBA has now slipped slightly into negative territory for 2026, a notable change after the stock spent much of the year providing support to the broader market. ANZ held in the Active Growth and Income Portfolios. WBC in Active Income Portfolio.
- Materials was the other side of the trade, supported by BHP (ASX: BHP) +3.25% to $64.58, Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) +1.89% to $179.33, PLS (ASX: PLS) +1.62% to $5.01, Liontown (ASX: LTR) +1.26% to $1.21 and Sandfire (ASX: SFR) +2.00% to $22.95. Iron ore is back around US$100/t while copper is trading at record levels, giving the sector enough momentum to offset much of the weakness elsewhere. BHP held in the Active Growth and Income Portfolios. PLS in Active Growth & LTR in Emerging Companies Portfolios.
- Copper stocks remained well supported as LME copper pushed to another record around US$14,700/t. Capstone Copper (ASX: CSC) +5.47% to $16.00 was among the better performers, with the underlying commodity benefiting from depleted inventories, constrained mine supply and tariff-driven flows into the US.
- Energy continued to outperform as Brent flirted with US$100/bbl, with Woodside (ASX: WDS) +2.60% to $33.14 one of the better large-cap performers. Disruption through the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure remain the obvious near-term drivers.
- Austal (ASX: ASB) +7.13% to $4.66 rallied after receiving a non-binding bid from a syndicate led by US-based Wildcat Infrastructure for Austal USA, valuing the US business at US$1.25–1.35bn (A$1.7–1.9bn) on a cash-free, debt-free basis — topping Hanwha’s existing US$1.05–1.20bn proposal and creating genuine competitive tension for the US shipbuilding arm.
- Westgold (ASX: WGX) -4.33% to $6.18 fell after releasing FY27 guidance. Production was broadly where expected, but AISC guidance came in a touch higher than Macquarie estimates and the company flagged $450–480m of growth capex, outweighing a stronger longer-term production target of up to 510koz by FY29.
- The gold miner weakness spread, with Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) -1.57% to $14.42, Kingsgate (ASX: KCN) -1.10% to $5.40, Resolute Mining (ASX: RSG) -2.78% to $1.40 and Northern Star (ASX: NST) -1.97% to $22.86 all lower as bullion slipped back towards US$4,350/oz. Higher oil is currently being interpreted more as an inflation and rates problem than a clean safe-haven tailwind for gold. Evolution Mining held in the Active Growth Portfolio.
- Metcash (ASX: MTS) -2.71% to $2.87 provided a reasonably constructive AGM update, with tobacco sales up 11.7% over the first 18 weeks of FY27 and underlying supermarket sales improving as the period progressed. Liquor remains the soft spot, but Food trading appears to be moving in the right direction. MTS in the Active Income Portfolio.
- Syrah Resources (ASX: SYR) traded flat to 10.5c pushed back the expected financial close of its strategic funding package to the first half of 2027, with binding documentation taking longer than planned. A further US$15m DFC loan drawdown is now expected in October.
- Viridis Mining (ASX: VMM) +3.56% to $3.78 secured approval for around A$21m of low-cost Brazilian government financing for its rare earths processing centre. The 16-year facility helps chip away at the remaining funding requirement for Colossus and is another step in de-risking the project.
- Sovereign Metals (ASX: SVM) +4% to 52c outlined a potentially attractive rare-earths by-product opportunity at Kasiya, with a scoping study showing a US$722m uplift to pre-tax NPV for only around US$29m of incremental development capital.
- Gold: Rose +1% to US$4400/oz around our close
- Brent crude: ~US$99.50/bbl / +1.6%
- Iron Ore: ~US$100.30/mt / -0.3%
- S&P 500 E-mini futures: +8.00pts / +0.10%
- Dow E-mini futures: +4.00pts / +0.01%
- FTSE futures: -51.50pts / -0.48%
