Sydney, Feb 5, 2026, 21:46 AEDT — Market closed.
- The S&P/ASX 200 ended down 0.4% after a two-session rally.
- Miners and gold stocks led losses; financials and consumer names rose.
- Traders turn to results season and a reshuffled U.S. data calendar.
Australian shares ended lower on Thursday, with miners dragging the market off recent highs as investors leaned away from commodity-linked risk. The S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.4% at 8,889.20 points, while the broader All Ordinaries fell 0.54% to 9,154.90.
The pullback matters now because it hits just as reporting season builds and rate expectations are shifting again. After two days of gains, traders booked profits in resources and took cues from choppy offshore markets, leaving the index looking more like a market waiting than a market chasing.
The materials sub-index — a gauge of listed miners — slid 3.7% and gold stocks dropped 4.6%, with Northern Star Resources down 4.6% and Evolution Mining off 3.2%. BHP fell 3.9% and Rio Tinto lost 1.4%, both easing from lifetime peaks.
Jamie Hannah, deputy head of investments and capital markets at VanEck Australia, said the moves looked like short-term commodity volatility even as the broader resources cycle remained supportive. “There’s certainly enough demand for the underlying base metals and for precious metals playing out in the market as a safe haven,” he said. Indo Premier
Energy stocks fell 1.2%, tracking softer oil prices as U.S.-Iran tensions appeared to ease. Beach Energy slid 4.4% after it reported an 8% drop in first-half profit.
Financials rose 0.8% and helped limit the broader decline, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia and ANZ both up 1.4%. Consumer discretionary stocks gained 1.4% and staples rose 1%.
One stock stood out for different reasons. Construction firm Maas Group plunged 26.6% after it announced the sale of its building materials division to Germany’s Heidelberg Materials for up to A$1.7 billion ($1.18 billion).
Rates remain in the background and investors keep checking them. The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday lifted the cash rate target by 25 basis points — a quarter of a percentage point — to 3.85%, saying inflation picked up in the second half of 2025 and was likely to stay above target “for some time.” Reserve Bank of Australia
Offshore, the U.S. data calendar just got messier. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the January employment report will be released on Wednesday, Feb. 11, after being delayed by a three-day government shutdown, and the January CPI report will be published on Friday, Feb. 13.
The risk is straightforward: if commodity prices extend their slide, resources-heavy benchmarks like Australia’s can drop quickly, and any renewed jump in bond yields would test rate-sensitive pockets of the market. The other snag is that the delayed U.S. numbers can concentrate volatility into fewer sessions, right when companies are reporting.
For Friday’s session and the week ahead, investors will be watching earnings calendars closely. CommSec’s schedule shows results due on Feb. 6 from News Corp and REA Group, and a heavier stretch next week that includes Commonwealth Bank, CSL, AGL Energy, Computershare and Evolution Mining (among others).
