Sydney — January 5, 2026 — 2:14 AM ET
- S&P/ASX 200: +0.01% to 8,728.60; All Ordinaries: -0.02% to 9,034.7. 1
- Materials: +1.8% to a record close; BHP and Fortescue: +1.6% each; Rio hit an intraday peak at A$150.14. 2
- Woodside: -1.2%, Santos: -1.1%; traders now stare at Wednesday’s ABS November CPI. 2
ASX stalled into the close.
Australia stock market today ended in a dead heat, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.8 points (0.01%) at 8,728.60 while the All Ordinaries slipped 7 points (0.02%) to 9,034.7. 1
Miners stole the session.
Materials jumped 1.8% to a record close as firmer iron ore prices and China demand pushed BHP and Fortescue up 1.6% each and drove Rio Tinto to an intraday peak at A$150.14. 2
Volume screamed holiday mode.
Turnover ran at just 0.7x the 30-day average (652 million shares) in the thinnest ASX session in more than a year, and Australia lagged even as MSCI’s broad Asia-Pacific gauge hit a record with a 1.7% jump and Japan’s Nikkei surged 2.8%. 2
Energy traders got whiplash.
After the US captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, oil jolts didn’t stick, and Woodside fell 1.2% and Santos slid 1.1% as Brent fell 0.4% to $US60.48 a barrel. 3
Rates kept biting.
Financials, consumer discretionary and real estate fell 0.2% to 1.6% as Craig Sidney at Shaw and Partners said traders now expect the next RBA move to go up, not down. Indo Premier
WiseTech dropped 3.5%. 3
Silex Systems (SLX) jumped 9.99% to A$9.80 and NexGen Energy (NXG) climbed 8.46% to A$15.51, while Paladin (PDN) added 7.26% and Temple & Webster (TPW) sank 6.18% to A$12.90 and Zip (ZIP) slid 5.37% to A$3.17. 4
Gold caught a bid.
Spot gold rose 1.9% to $US4,411.14 an ounce and helped ASX gold stocks jump 1.5%, while the Aussie dollar traded at about 66.70 US cents. 3
Futures ticked higher.
March ASX 200 futures printed around 8,711.5 after an 8,719.5 open, with the day’s range at 8,701.5–8,731.5. 5
Thin tape cuts both ways.
If iron ore cools or China demand fades, miners lose the only real bid, and a CPI upside surprise on Wednesday forces a fast reset in rate pricing across banks, REITs and consumer names. 2
Now it’s CPI week.
Next up: the ABS drops November CPI on Wednesday (forecasts: 3.7% vs 3.8% prior) with building approvals, then trade data Thursday and the US jobs report on Friday, January 9, with economists expecting 55,000 jobs after November unemployment hit 4.6%. 3
