Sydney, Jan 17, 2026, 16:56 AEDT — Market closed.
- Macquarie Group climbed 2.6% on Friday, outpacing the wider Australian market.
- Late filings revealed shifts in Macquarie’s “substantial holder” stakes across multiple ASX-listed companies.
- Data on jobs and China’s growth next week will put the risk rally to the test.
Macquarie Group (MQG.AX) shares climbed 2.6% on Friday, closing at A$211.86 and rounding off a solid week for Australia’s financial giants. The market values the group at roughly A$77.5 billion, based on figures from StockAnalysis.com. 1
The ASX is closed for the weekend, but Monday’s open will reveal fast if Friday’s surge held up or was just a late-week shuffle. For Macquarie, these moves are key since its shares usually mirror global risk appetite more than the major retail banks do.
That sensitivity goes both ways. Macquarie’s blend of markets-facing operations and asset-related income can cause the shares to swing sharply as investors flip between “risk-on” and “risk-off” modes.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed Friday up 0.5% at 8,903.9, marking its fifth straight day of gains, the Economic Times reported, citing Reuters. Financials led the rally with a 1% rise on the session. 2
On Friday, Macquarie shares moved between A$206.41 and A$212.07, closing the day with roughly 808,170 shares changing hands, per historical data from Yahoo Finance. 3
After the close, filings revealed Macquarie dropped below the 5% ownership mark in Temple & Webster Group (TPW), no longer a substantial holder there, while it became a substantial holder in Downer EDI (DOW). Separate notices dated Thursday showed Macquarie also fell below the substantial holder threshold in both Tabcorp (TAH) and Downer. In Australia, crossing the 5% ownership line triggers a substantial holder notice. 4
Those portfolio notices are routine, yet they often catch eyes early in the week. They signal major-holder movements in and out of local stocks — the kind of tape action that usually emerges first in financials.
Macro trends are taking the lead. Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG, pointed to next week’s Australian labour force report and the month-end inflation figures as “pivotal” for shaping expectations ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s board meeting on Feb. 3. He also highlighted Monday’s China GDP data as a crucial regional indicator. 5
Wall Street is shut Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, leaving investors with fewer U.S. market signals at the week’s start. 6
Macquarie faces ongoing tension between rate forecasts and risk appetite. Any weaker growth data from China or an unexpected move in Australian employment could jolt bond yields and weigh on financial stocks, despite the index’s recent steady performance.
The risk for MQG is straightforward: if volatility spikes and asset prices fall, the stock could quickly surrender its gains. Macquarie’s earnings often react more sharply to market swings than those of traditional lenders, so any shift in sentiment tends to impact it sooner.
Macquarie’s next key date is its operational briefing on Feb. 10, followed by the full-year results release on May 8. 7
