ASX falls as gold miners, CSL, WiseTech slump; Domino’s trims gains

The Australian sharemarket finished in the red on Tuesday, with steep falls in gold miners and some big companies outweighing solid gains by financial stocks and retailers.

Trading was largely driven by corporate news: WiseTech Global shares plunged after the software giant said police and market regulators raided its headquarters and executed a search warrant this week. CSL shares tanked after Australia’s biggest healthcare company told investors vaccine scepticism in the US had hurt its profits, and it would delay the planned spin-off of its vaccines arm.

Meanwhile, Domino’s Pizza soared, then pared its gains after it dismissed speculation about a potential private equity bid for the pizza chain.

The wild share moves sent the S&P/ASX 200 down 43.1 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 9012.5 even as six of its 11 industry sectors were in the green. The losses wiped out the bourse’s 0.4 per cent gain from Monday. The Aussie dollar traded at US65.56¢ at 4.45pm AEDT.

WiseTech shares plunged 15.9 per cent after the company said Australian Federal Police and market regulators had raided its Sydney headquarters and executed a search warrant on Monday. The investigation concerns alleged trading in WiseTech shares by its billionaire co-founder Richard White and three company employees between late 2024 and early 2025, the board said.

Biotech giant CSL also slumped 15.9 per cent after vaccine scepticism led to a plunge in influenza vaccinations in the US, a key market, and forced the company to issue a profit warning for its Seqirus vaccine business.

Company chair Brian McNamee said the double-digit decline in US vaccination rates was a massive shock to the group and would delay the spin-off of its Seqirus arm, which it had announced in August.

Gold miners declined as gold slid below $US4000 ($6106) an ounce, extending losses from their worst rout in more than a decade as progress on a US-China trade deal sapped haven demand. Spot gold fell as much as 3.4 per cent to below $US3980 overnight following last week’s abrupt halt to its unprecedented rally on concerns the record-breaking rally that had taken prices above $US4380 had run too far.

Chinese and US trade negotiators have lined up an array of diplomatic wins for US President Donald Trump and counterpart Xi Jinping to unveil at a summit this week. A trade agreement between the world’s two biggest economies may ease some of the economic risks and geopolitical tensions that have bolstered the precious metal.

Northern Star Resources fell 3.1 per cent, Evolution Mining was down 3.9 per cent and Greatland Resources lost 9.1 per cent. Newmont, the world’s largest gold miner, slid 4.1 per cent.

A potential deal between the US and China also weighed on rare earths miners. During weekend TV appearances, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent talked about agreements around China buying its rare-earth exports, a week after DTrump signed a landmark critical minerals deal with Australia.

Trump on Tuesday also secured a framework deal with Japan for the supply of critical minerals and rare earths through mining and processing work. Lynas, the nation’s biggest rare earths miner and the only producer of so-called heavy rare earths outside China, slumped 13.9 per cent, while Iluka slid 5.2 per cent and smaller player Dateline Resources plummeted 29 per cent.

Oil and gas giants Woodside and Santos also ended lower, down 1.7 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively, after a two-day drop in oil prices. While prices steadied on Tuesday, oil is headed for a third straight monthly loss as investors weigh signs of a glut and the fallout from US sanctions on Russian producers.

On the bright side, the big four banks all traded higher after the strong trading session overnight on Wall Street. CBA, the biggest stock on the Australian market, rose 1.4 per cent. Westpac gained 1 per cent, National Australia Bank climbed 2.5 per cent and ANZ Bank added 0.7 per cent.

Retailers also had a strong morning after an ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian index showed consumer confidence was up 2.8 percentage points over the past fortnight. Officeworks and Bunnings owner Wesfarmers gained 2.8 per cent, electronics chain JB Hi-Fi rose 0.8 per cent and Eagers Automotive was up 6.3 per cent.

Domino’s Pizza shares skyrocketed 17.4 per cent before the company requested a trading halt following a report from the Australian Financial Review that Bain Capital was eyeing a partial or total buyout of the fast food chain. In the afternoon, the company dismissed the report, saying it had not received any proposal from or been in communication with the private equity giant. The stock trimmed its gains to close up 7.2 per cent.

AUB Group jumped 5.9 per cent after Swedish private equity firm EQT made a $5.2 billion takeover offer for the insurance broker. Australian financial firms attract increasing attention from foreign buyers amid the country’s wealth and superannuation sector boom.

On Wall Street overnight, the S&P 500 rose 1.2 per cent. The Dow Jones added 0.7 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.9 per cent. Each of the trio set an all-time high for a second straight day ahead of the meeting on Thursday between the heads of the US and China.

Bessent said there’s “a framework” for Trump and Xi to discuss at their meeting, while Trump said, “we feel good” about working things out with China.

That’s just one of many things that will need to go right this week in order for the US sharemarket’s tremendous, record-breaking rally to continue.

The Fed’s next announcement on interest rates is due on Wednesday, and the nearly unanimous expectation among traders is that it will cut the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point at a second straight meeting.

It’s not a certainty though because the Fed has also warned it may have to change course if inflation accelerates beyond its still-high level. That’s because low interest rates can make inflation worse.

The latest monthly report on inflation in the US came in slightly better than economists expected, raising hopes, but it may be the final update for a while if the US government’s shutdown continues. That could cloud the forecast for cuts to rates to continue.

Some of Wall Street’s most influential stocks are set to report their results this week, including Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Microsoft on Wednesday, and Amazon and Apple on Thursday. They’ll need to deliver big growth and justify big spending underway in artificial-intelligence technology.

Worries have been climbing that AI may be in the midst of a bubble, similar to the dotcom bonanza that ended up bursting in 2000. Nvidia’s stock is up 42.6 per cent for the year so far, for example, and Qualcomm soared 11.1 per cent on Monday after unveiling AI products for data centres.

In other international markets, indexes rose modestly in Europe following bigger gains in Asia.

with AP, Reuters, Bloomberg

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