Sydney, Feb 6, 2026, 16:55 AEDT — After-hours
- MQG slipped on Friday amid a widespread selloff that dragged Australian stocks down into the weekend
- Regulators relaxed certain liquidity restrictions on Macquarie Bank a day earlier, though other safeguards are still in place
- Investors are turning their attention to next week’s operational briefing for updated insights on trading conditions
Shares of Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) slipped 2.1% to finish at A$208.02 on Friday, hitting a low of A$206.76 during the session. (Yahoo Finance)
The move followed a partial regulatory easing on Thursday. Australia’s prudential regulator APRA lowered extra liquidity requirements on Macquarie Bank, cutting the net cash outflow (NCO) add-on — which measures stressed cash outflows — from 25% to 15%. It also removed an adjustment to the available stable funding (ASF) in the bank’s net stable funding ratio, a key gauge of long-term funding resilience. APRA noted that Macquarie had “remediated aspects of liquidity risk management and reporting controls.” Meanwhile, Macquarie confirmed its separate A$500 million operational-risk capital overlay, an additional capital buffer, remains intact. (Reuters)
Those add-ons came after the banking unit broke reporting and liquidity rules in 2021–22. The easing reduces the extra cash and funding buffers the unit is required to hold, but it doesn’t end the compliance saga.
Macquarie made no company announcements to the ASX on Friday, so investors had to interpret the stock’s movement in the context of the wider market sentiment. (Australian Securities Exchange)
Sentiment soured quickly. The S&P/ASX 200 slipped about 2.2% in afternoon trading, dragged down by a broad selloff led by miners and banks. Financial shares fell 1.5%, with Commonwealth Bank down 0.5%, ABC reported. “Panic is spreading,” said MooMoo Australia analyst Michael McCarthy. (ABC News)
Macquarie frequently behaves more like a markets-and-commodities outfit than a straightforward retail bank. That approach pays off when clients are hedging and trading, but it can hurt when deal flow dries up and asset valuations take a hit.
Macquarie raised its average gold price forecast for 2026 on Thursday, highlighting a gap between market fundamentals and what it called “extreme volatility,” according to a Reuters factbox. (Investing.com Canada)
The group’s most recent major profit update came in November, revealing a 3% rise in first-half profit that still fell short of market forecasts. It also announced an expanded share buyback. (Reuters)
Risks cut both ways. A sharper drop in equities could stall deal-making and drag down asset values. Yet volatile markets often boost client hedging and trading volumes, providing a lift to segments of Macquarie’s markets business.
As markets open Monday, traders will be eyeing if the sell-off in banks and miners keeps momentum, alongside any further widening in credit spreads—the extra yield investors want for corporate debt. Then, all focus turns to Macquarie’s operational briefing on Tuesday, Feb 10, at 10:00am AEDT. (Macquarie)
