The Australian sharemarket showed resilience on Thursday, buoyed by strong performances in mining and energy sectors, even as Wall Street’s recent rally took a breather. The S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.2% by early afternoon, with materials and energy leading six of the 11 industry sectors into positive territory.
Mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto were the standout performers, with BHP jumping 3% and Rio Tinto surging 2.5% following a rise in iron ore prices. The energy sector also posted gains, with Woodside up 2.3%, Santos increasing by 0.9%, and Whitehaven Coal advancing 1.4%.
Mixed Performance Among Financials and Retail
The financial sector experienced mixed results. Commonwealth Bank dipped 0.4%, while Westpac rose 0.8%, ANZ Bank edged up 0.2%, and National Australia Bank fell 0.1%. Macquarie Group saw a 1% decline after agreeing to compensate victims of the Shield Master Fund collapse, a scandal involving $321 million of life savings invested through its platform.
Retailer Premier Investments saw its shares gain 2.7% as profits soared by 31.1% to $338.2 million, partly due to the sale of its Apparel Brands to Myer. Despite a 0.9% increase in overall sales to $812.2 million for the 2025 financial year, Premier’s Smiggle brand suffered a 10.7% sales decline, offset by a 7.7% rise in Peter Alexander sales.
Meanwhile, Nine Entertainment shares rose 0.6% following the resignation of chair Catherine West, who will be succeeded by Peter Tonagh, a former deputy chair of the ABC.
Wall Street’s Pause and Global Market Trends
Overnight, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% for a second consecutive modest loss, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 171 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.4%. Despite these declines, all three indexes remain near their all-time highs set earlier this week.
The slowdown on Wall Street follows a significant rally since April, driven by optimism that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs won’t hinder global trade and expectations of multiple Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. However, concerns have emerged about stock valuations becoming too high, especially if the Fed doesn’t meet rate cut expectations.
Micron Technology’s stock fell 2.8% despite reporting better-than-expected profits and revenue, illustrating the high bar set by recent market gains. The company’s stock had already surged 97.7% this year.
Freeport-McMoRan faced a 17% drop after announcing lower-than-expected copper and gold sales forecasts for the third quarter. Conversely, Lithium Americas soared 95.8% amid reports of potential US government investment in its lithium project with General Motors.
Global Market Reactions and Bond Market Movements
In international markets, European and Asian indexes displayed mixed results. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.4%, while France’s CAC 40 fell 0.6%. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury increased to 4.14% from 4.12%.
Homebuilders in the US benefited from stronger-than-expected new home sales in August, with Lennar climbing 2% and both PulteGroup and D.R. Horton adding 0.7%.
Looking Ahead
The Australian dollar was trading at US65.98¢ as of 1.17pm AEST. As global markets continue to navigate economic uncertainties, investors will be closely watching for further developments in US monetary policy and international trade dynamics.
With Wall Street’s rally showing signs of fatigue, the focus may shift to how global markets adapt to evolving economic conditions and whether the recent gains can be sustained amid potential headwinds.
