Sydney, January 15, 2026, 21:59 AEDT — Market closed
- Australian shares close at over two-month high as miners rally again
- BHP ends at its strongest in more than two years; banks rise but stay shaky this month
- Traders watch metals prices and the RBA’s Feb. 3 policy decision next
Australian shares ended Thursday at an over two-month high, with miners doing most of the work as investors leaned back into resource names. The S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.5% higher at 8,861.70, while BHP finished at its strongest level in more than two years and Rio Tinto rose 0.4%.
The turn into miners matters because it has started to look less like a one-day commodity bounce and more like a positioning shift away from banks that ran hard in late 2025. “Valuation fatigue in banks and strong tailwinds for miners are prompting a rotational positioning into the latter,” said Marc Jocum, senior product and investment strategist at Global X ETFs Australia. The Business Times
Miners — the sector gauge tracking Australia’s biggest diggers — rose 1.1% for a third straight record close, in step with firmer base and precious metal prices. Financials gained 0.5% on the day, but the banking sub-index is still down more than 1.5% so far this month, a reminder that rate expectations can turn quickly.
Among individual stocks, BlueScope Steel climbed 4.6% and South32 gained 4.6%, while buy-now-pay-later firm Zip slid 5.8%, Treasury Wine fell 5.8% and Life360 dropped 4.7%. The ASX 200 VIX — an options-based gauge of expected volatility — eased to 10.05, while gold futures slipped and oil fell more than 3%.
Wednesday’s session set up some of Thursday’s tone: miners and energy stocks held the market at a two-month closing high even as the big banks sold off. “There’s certainly a bit of money going into the likes of BHP and Rio Tinto,” said Craig Sidney, a senior investment adviser at Shaw and Partners; interest-rate swaps — a derivatives market used to gauge policy bets — showed a 27% chance of an RBA hike when it meets on Feb. 3. Business Recorder
Offshore cues stayed messy. Oil prices slid by nearly $3 a barrel in a choppy global session after U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran had stopped planned killings, while major markets outside Australia traded mixed.
Still, the miners-first rally cuts both ways. If metals prices cool or China demand wobbles, the same stocks that pulled the index up this week can drag it back down fast, especially with bank rate sensitivity still hanging over the market.
For the week ahead, traders will also keep one eye on the calendar: the ASX cash market is scheduled to be closed for Australia Day on Monday, Jan. 26, which can thin liquidity around the holiday.
The next hard domestic catalyst is the Reserve Bank of Australia’s policy decision, with the Monetary Policy Board meeting on Feb. 2–3 and the decision statement due Feb. 3 at 2:30 p.m. AEDT.
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