Sydney, January 15, 2026, 16:49 AEDT — After-hours.
- Commonwealth Bank of Australia shares ended up 0.35% at A$153.42.
- The bank lifted fixed mortgage rates from Thursday, a move that can feed straight into margin expectations.
- Next up: Australia’s CPI on Jan. 28, the RBA decision on Feb. 3, and CBA’s half-year results on Feb. 11.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia shares edged higher on Thursday after the lender moved to lift fixed mortgage rates and as investors looked to a run of rate-sensitive data in the next fortnight. The stock finished up 0.35% at A$153.42. 1
The move matters now because bank stocks tend to swing on any shift in the interest-rate outlook. Mortgage pricing is the front line: it influences loan demand and the margin banks earn — the spread between what they make on loans and what they pay to fund them.
Commonwealth Bank has increased fixed rates, with its three-year fixed mortgage rate rising to 6.04% from 5.34%, starting Jan. 15, Broker News reported, citing the bank. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. 2
Other big banks ended mixed-to-firmer. ANZ Group shares were up about 2.3%, National Australia Bank gained about 1.1% and Westpac rose about 0.7% in late trade data.
The broader market kept grinding higher. The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.47% to 8,861.7, helped by miners and commodity-linked stocks, according to an AAP report carried by CommBank’s newsroom. 3
Commonwealth Bank economist Belinda Allen flagged the policy risk in a note on wages and labour costs this week, saying, “It seems increasingly likely that the Reserve Bank could raise rates in the early part of 2026.” 4
The key near-term hurdle is inflation. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has scheduled the December 2025 consumer price index release for Jan. 28 at 11:30 a.m. AEDT, while the Reserve Bank of Australia’s next monetary policy meeting runs Feb. 2–3, with the decision statement due on Feb. 3. 5
Overnight leads are also in play. Wall Street slipped as investors weighed mixed results from major U.S. banks and fresh policy risks around lending, a backdrop that can bleed into sentiment toward bank shares globally. 6
But the near-term read is not clean. Higher mortgage rates can help defend pricing, yet they can also slow credit growth and raise borrower stress if the economy softens — and a softer CPI print could just as easily reset rate expectations lower, reviving pressure on margins through competition.
Investors also have a company-specific date circled. Commonwealth Bank is due to report half-year results and announce its interim dividend on Feb. 11, a checkpoint for margins, loan growth and bad-debt trends into the rest of 2026. 7
