Gold miners send ASX lower; Energy stocks gain
Staff writers
Updated ,first published
A slump in gold miners and a decline in property stocks led the Australian share market to fall slightly on Tuesday, erasing earlier gains.
The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 8.6 points, or 0.1 percent, to 8717.10 points, with six of 11 industrial sectors in the red. The decline comes after the stock market lost 0.4 percent on Monday, but the local benchmark is still up 6.3 percent for the year on the second and final trading day of 2025.
The Australian dollar was trading at 67.13¢ as of 16:18 AEDT. Investors will face another shortened week in late 2025, with the ASX ending trading early on New Year’s Eve and remaining closed on Thursday for New Year’s Eve. Wall Street will also be closed on New Year’s Eve.
Gold miners put pressure on the local market following volatility in precious metals overnight; Gold prices fell as traders locked in profits following a strong year-end rally that sent both gold and silver to record highs. Weak market liquidity has exacerbated the yellow metal’s price fluctuations.
Spot gold fell as much as 5 percent overnight, recording its biggest intraday decline since October 21; but precious metal prices are still up around 64 percent for the year and stabilized in Tuesday’s session. Northern Star Resources was down 2 percent, Evolution Mining was down 3.4 percent and Newmont was down 4.1 percent.
South 32, which has Australia’s largest silver mine, fell 2 percent. Silver fell 11 percent, its biggest intraday decline since September 2020, but has more than doubled overall in 2025 and rebounded 2 percent on Tuesday.
However, market experts were not impressed by the price fluctuations. “Don’t look for huge moves,” said Michael Haigh, head of FIC and Commodity Research at Societe Generale, adding that the end of each year tends to be “very illiquid.”
Data center owner Goodman Group cut its real estate stocks 1.2 percent after traders on Wall Street scaled back bets on tech megacaps before the end of the year over concerns that valuations may have risen too high due to the artificial intelligence boom. In the technology sector, artificial intelligence data center operator Next DC lost 1.7 percent.
Goodman shares also traded without final dividend rights for the first time. Other shares trading dividends included property trusts Charter Hall (down 1.4 per cent) and GPT Group (down 1.1 per cent), developer Mirvac (down 0.5 per cent) and toll road operator Transurban (down 1.7 per cent).
The financial sector, which accounts for more than a third of the ASX, gave back some of its initial gains but still finished the day with modest gains. CBA, the country’s largest stock, gained 0.5 percent, National Australia Bank 0.4 percent, Westpac 0.2 percent and ANZ Bank 0.1 percent. Insurers made gains, with QBE gaining 1.4 percent and Suncorp gaining 0.8 percent.
Energy stocks gained value with increasing oil prices. U.S. benchmark crude rose 2.4 percent overnight to settle at $58.08 a barrel, holding most of its gains as traders weighed geopolitical tensions from Venezuela to Russia and Iran against oversupply concerns. Brent was trading below $62 a barrel after rising 2.1 percent overnight, while West Texas Intermediate was near $58. Oil and gas giant Woodside gained 1.3 percent, Santos gained 1.7 percent and refinery Ampol gained 0.4 percent.
Origin Energy rose 1.2 per cent after Kraken Technologies, which helps utilities manage the transition to cleaner energy, was said to be worth US$8.65bn ($12.9bn) after the software platform’s initial share sale. Kraken is owned by Octopus Energy Group, of which Origin is a major investor. Origin said in a statement that Kraken will raise US$1 billion in equity capital from new and existing shareholders, paving the way for its official separation from Octopus in the middle of next year.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 0.4 percent, while Tesla, Nvidia and Meta Platform stocks were among the losers. The US stock benchmark is still up around 18 percent for the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq composite fell 0.5 percent.
Major technology stocks were among the heaviest weights in the US market. Nvidia fell 1.2 percent and Tesla fell 3.3 percent. Investors’ optimism about the future of AI has driven the sector mostly higher throughout the year, setting a series of records in the broader market.
Joe Mazzola, chief trading and derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab, said the weakness in U.S. stocks “is a reversal from last week, when technology stocks were on the rise.” But “it does not appear to depend on any underlying factors”.
As the year draws to a close, technology stocks are trending more unstable. They mostly declined in November and recorded only modest increases through December. Nvidia and several other companies that focus on artificial intelligence or make heavy use of emerging technology have become among the world’s most valuable companies. Investors seem more skeptical about whether the ultimate return will make big investments worthwhile.
In the bond market, treasury yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.10 percent from 4.13 percent on Friday.
Treasury yields have fallen significantly since the beginning of the year. This is partly due to the Federal Reserve’s expectation of interest rate cuts and eventual reductions in 2025. The central bank cut its benchmark interest rate three times late in the year. At the same time, it began to face a more complex economic situation in which inflation remained stubbornly high while the labor market slowed.
Reductions in interest rates could support the U.S. economy by making loans cheaper, but this benefit could be negated by rising inflation, which could hinder economic growth.
With AP and Bloomberg
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