Sydney, Jan 30, 2026, 17:35 AEDT — Market closed.
- Sandfire ended down 6.9% at A$19.85 after touching A$21.75 intraday
- Company set Feb. 19 for its December-half results and investor call
- Copper hit record highs on Thursday as LME trading was hit by a technical delay on Friday
Sandfire Resources Ltd (ASX:SFR) shares fell 6.9% to A$19.85 on Friday, backing away from an intraday A$21.75 that matched the stock’s 52-week high.
The move comes with a fresh date in the diary. Sandfire said on Thursday its half-year results — covering the six months to Dec. 31, 2025 — will be released on Feb. 19, alongside a management call.
Copper has been doing most of the pushing and pulling. Benchmark three-month copper futures on the London Metal Exchange hit a record $14,527.50 a metric ton on Thursday before giving up part of the move, Reuters reported. “Copper posted its biggest one-day gain in years … driven by intense speculative trading by bulls in China,” Neil Welsh at Britannia Global Markets wrote. Reuters
Sandfire had rallied a day earlier, rising 5.2% on Thursday to close at A$21.31, before Friday’s reversal.
Volatility didn’t stop at prices. The London Metal Exchange delayed the start of trade on Friday on its electronic platform, LMEselect, for about an hour due to a technical issue. “Due to a technical issue there is a delay to the opening of LMEselect,” the exchange said. Reuters
Analysts are also revising their copper playbook. A Reuters poll published on Thursday put the 2026 average copper price forecast at $11,975 a ton, up from $10,500, while warning that softer industrial demand could still cap the rally.
Supply headlines are feeding the market’s nerves. Glencore on Thursday reported its 2025 copper output fell 11%, pointing to lower grades and operational constraints at some mines even as prices hit records.
Sandfire sits close to the metal. The miner runs copper operations including the MATSA complex in Spain and the Motheo operation in Botswana, among other assets, according to its company profile.
With the ASX shut until Monday, investors will be watching whether copper holds onto recent gains and whether the week’s disruption in London keeps base-metals trading choppy. Moves like Friday’s don’t always stay contained to one session.
The obvious risk is that copper’s run proves too hot and too fast. If the metal slips back, miners typically wear it in their share prices — and Sandfire heads into its Feb. 19 results with less room for disappointment.
Next up is Monday’s reopen, but the calendar marker is Feb. 19. That’s when Sandfire will put numbers to the December half and investors will press management on costs, volumes and what record-level copper prices actually mean for the business.
