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.
- Materials: +1.8% to a record close; BHP and Fortescue: +1.6% each; Rio hit an intraday peak at A$150.14.
- Woodside: -1.2%, Santos: -1.1%; traders now stare at Wednesday’s ABS November CPI.
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.
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.
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%.
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.
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.
WiseTech dropped 3.5%.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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%.
