Closing Bell: ASX sets 17th record high for 2025 as market continues to show broad strength
Closes out trade at record 8959.3 points
Broad sector gains continue with eight of 11 higher
Bulls set the tone for fresh week of trade
It wasn't looking this way as we chowed down for lunch in the east, but it's been an ultimately tidy open to this week's trade for the ASX 200. The benchmark finished up 0.23% or 20 points to give us a double whammy of new intraday and record highs once again.
The ASX has been on a tear in recent weeks, offering up 17 new all-time highs this year.
In a good sign for market stability, the gains haven't come from any one place, although mining and banking stocks have maintained their dominate position as trend setters.
Today, telecoms and info tech led the pack, with some support from financials and the Banks index.
Real Estate digital advertising giant REA Group (ASX:REA) led the telecoms sector higher, climbing 4.4%.
The company is bringing Cameron McIntyre on as its newest CEO, effective November 3. He oversaw a six-fold increase in the value of CAR Group Limited in his nine years as CEO. McIntyre will be taking over for outgoing CEO Owen Wilson, who's looking to make a retirement from full time executive roles.
Materials – in particular resources and gold stocks – weighed on the other side of the balance sheet alongside energy and a small dip in industrials, but the damage was limited.
BHP (ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) fell more than 1% each, while Fortescue (ASX:FMG) slid 0.6%.
Critical mineral stocks were having a much better time of it.
Rare earths miner Lynas (ASX:LYC) added 1.9%, while lithium stock Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) jumped 3.2% and Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) added 1.3%
Overall, despite some midday hiccups, it's been a day of steady upward progress for the ASX. Let's see who's been able to capitalise on that momentum.
ASX Leaders
Today's best performing stocks (including small caps):
Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap
KLR Kaili Resources Ltd 1.08 2900% 1882040 $5,306,413
AOA Ausmon Resorces 0.0045 125% 31270577 $2,622,427
MTB Mount Burgess Mining 0.012 100% 48362991 $2,553,830
AHX Apiam Animal Health 0.795 49% 2151677 $98,409,250
BCN Beacon Minerals 2.3 35% 706852 $180,680,630
CHM Chimeric Therapeutic 0.004 33% 136568 $9,763,676
VKA Viking Mines Ltd 0.008 33% 4777420 $8,063,692
IFG Infocusgroup Hldltd 0.025 32% 11232127 $5,546,844
LNR Lanthanein Resources 0.052 30% 850553 $7,493,763
OVT Ovanti Limited 0.009 29% 75675099 $29,920,265
VML Vital Metals Limited 0.14 27% 1850545 $12,968,919
ADN Andromeda Metals Ltd 0.014 27% 34598528 $41,983,440
IXC Invex Ther 0.095 27% 98193 $5,636,539
JNO Juno 0.03 25% 195114 $5,021,689
AOK Australian Oil. 0.0025 25% 700825 $2,075,566
ERA Energy Resources 0.0025 25% 1321373 $810,792,482
VFX Visionflex Group Ltd 0.0025 25% 1982 $6,735,721
LMG Latrobe Magnesium 0.021 24% 15469989 $44,786,485
RWL Rubicon Water 0.21 24% 33381 $40,918,167
SRL Sunrise 1.625 23% 1656512 $155,356,259
IS3 I Synergy Group Ltd 0.011 22% 893410 $15,356,699
GTE Great Western Exp. 0.017 21% 11694014 $7,948,611
UNT Unith Ltd 0.0085 21% 4495211 $10,351,498
1AD Adalta Limited 0.003 20% 1189832 $2,886,625
CYQ Cycliq Group Ltd 0.006 20% 924978 $2,302,583
In the news…
Kaili Resources (ASX:KLR) fended off a price query from the ASX after its share price surged an eye-watering 2900% today, pointing to Friday's drilling approval news that saw them topping our ASX Leaders chart last week, too.
KLR is preparing to drill for rare earths on three tenements in South Australia. Previous results from a maiden drilling program on Lameroo, one of the three areas in question, peaked at 356 parts per million total rare earths.
How about this chart… that's pretty insane and untoward action to say the least. Read today's Resources Top 5 for more.
Mount Burgess Mining (ASX:MTB) is poised to snap up two advanced gold projects from fellow ASX listers Metal Hawk (ASX:MHK) and Falcon Metals (ASX:FAL).
MTB is looking to acquire the Viking gold project and the Blair North project, which have both produced high-grade gold grades up to 6m at 64 g/t gold from 50m and 5.9m at 6.7 g/t gold from 244.4m, respectively.
Apiam Animal Health (ASX:AHX) is climbing after fielding a non-binding takeover offer from Adamantem Capital Management. The investment firm is offering to acquire AHX via a scheme of arrangement at $0.88 cash per share.
I'll hand over to Stockhead's own Tim Boreham to give you the full run down.
Beacon Minerals (ASX:BCN) hit bonanza grade gold in drilling at the Iguana deposit, part of the Lady Ida project in WA. The stand out result among some solid gold hits was a 10-metre intersection grading at 69.9 g/t gold from 40m of depth.
Within that gold hit, BCN encountered a metre-wide mineralised section grading at a startling 593 g/t gold, alongside a total of 17 results above 20 g/t gold.
Management says the assays are a 'fantastic' result that provides greater confidence as the company prepares for first production early next year.
ASX Laggards
Today's worst performing stocks (including small caps):
Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap
HFR Highfield Res Ltd 0.13 -47% 2655017 $116,148,876
MOM Moab Minerals Ltd 0.001 -33% 58975 $2,811,999
SFG Seafarms Group Ltd 0.001 -33% 50000 $7,254,899
UBI Universal Biosensors 0.013 -32% 3931599 $5,663,281
SKK Stakk Limited 0.005 -29% 291299 $14,525,558
M2R Miramar 0.003 -25% 7897727 $3,987,293
PLC Premier1 Lithium Ltd 0.009 -25% 136601 $4,416,727
GTRDA Gti Energy Ltd 0.125 -22% 305646 $14,835,762
PET Phoslock Env Tec Ltd 0.011 -21% 12848562 $8,741,467
AD8 Audinate Group Ltd 4.83 -20% 2893393 $511,289,266
TMK TMK Energy Limited 0.002 -20% 290555 $25,555,958
VRC Volt Resources Ltd 0.004 -20% 2470000 $23,424,247
BCK Brockman Mining Ltd 0.018 -18% 22750 $204,165,107
1CG One Click Group Ltd 0.01 -17% 988767 $14,187,434
AJL AJ Lucas Group 0.01 -17% 3194034 $16,508,756
ALR Altairminerals 0.01 -17% 12603476 $54,560,930
BEL Bentley Capital Ltd 0.01 -17% 834640 $913,535
CRB Carbine Resources 0.005 -17% 693700 $6,000,978
FBR FBR Ltd 0.005 -17% 7071488 $34,136,713
LU7 Lithium Universe Ltd 0.01 -17% 11540403 $17,231,755
PPY Papyrus Australia 0.01 -17% 16040 $7,234,581
SLZ Sultan Resources Ltd 0.005 -17% 200000 $1,566,501
TMX Terrain Minerals 0.0025 -17% 2000000 $7,595,443
NHE Nobleheliumlimited 0.042 -16% 1180203 $29,976,250
RML Resolution Minerals 0.048 -16% 20555425 $70,441,162
In Case You Missed It
ReNerve (ASX:RNV) has completed the first sale and clinical use of its new deep dermal tissue product line.
HyTerra (ASX:HYT) has found hydrogen and helium while drilling its third well at the Nemaha project in Kansas, USA.
Albion Resources (ASX:ALB) has identified 17 new Yandal West targets including seven high-priority drill targets with strong geological similarities to the Collavilla prospect.
Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) inks approval for Exploration Licence E69/4266, covering the Cassowary Intrusion and three nearby targets with copper-gold potential.
Power Minerals' (ASX:PNN) second-phase auger drilling at the Santa Anna project has intersected high-grade niobium and rare earths, reinforcing confidence in outlining a future resource.
Chariot Corporation (ASX:CC9) has appointed Leo Lithium (ASX:LLL) director Brendan Borg as an independent non-executive director.
CuFe (ASX:CUF) now has the option to include gold, bismuth and silver as additional revenue streams at the Tennant Creek project after a 400% increase to the Gecko Trend resource estimate.
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an hour ago
- ABC News
Off the productivity round table: What won't be discussed this week
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And that's before you consider the difficulties in even measuring labour productivity, particularly in an economy such as ours where the vast bulk of workers, instead of churning out easily countable widgets, are providing services to other people. Professor Roy Green from the University of Technology points to Australian manufacturing's demise — which now accounts for just 6 per cent of our GDP — as a major contributor to our productivity conundrum. There is, he says, "an almost exact correlation between the decline of manufacturing, the decline of business expenditure on research and development and the decline of productivity growth, now at its lowest level in almost 60 years". And then there are factors that are totally off the agenda. For such a pointy headed topic, finding answers often involve traversing areas that are socially, culturally and politically explosive. In many cases, economists — fearing a community backlash — refuse to even mention some of the more obvious topics that have a legitimate bearing on productivity. That involves two other P-words: population and property. Many business leaders and most politicians confuse productivity with profitability. There's a common misconception that, if only we could keep wages in check, our labour productivity problems could fix themselves. True, there's a link between wages and how much we produce but, even then, it's not completely understood. If lower wages were the key to better productivity, company executives should have penalties imposed for underperformance rather than bonuses for turning up. Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock lamented last week's decision to downgrade its labour productivity forecasts for the nation, a move that sent headline writers into a frenzy. Rising productivity, she said, lifts living standards as it provides the scope for workers to earn higher wages without putting pressure on inflation. But there's a catch. Businesses need to invest in new technology to help workers lift productivity. And they'll only do that if wages are rising, so they can reduce costs and boost profit. So, what comes first? Do higher wages lead to better productivity? Or does better productivity lead to higher wages? Just between us, no-one really knows. Luckly for the RBA governor, she declared it well and truly outside her remit. "All the Reserve Bank can do is make sure we have low and stable inflation, and if we have full employment, both of those things are very stable environments for businesses to think about how they might improve productivity, how they might produce more for the same amount of labour and capital input," she said. Once upon a time, there was no such thing as an automated carwash. 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Most new arrivals, he points out, are not highly skilled, nor are they permanent. "Massive influxes of low-skilled workers are obvious drivers of trends in labour productivity," he wrote. "But they're not even mentioned in recent Reserve Bank of Australia and Productivity Commission reports." Only around half the 1 million students — who make up about 10 per cent of the workforce — in Australia attend a university. The rest are in courses primarily designed to deliver a working visa. The huge influx has artificially kept GDP numbers elevated. But it's been at the expense of productivity. In those proportions, they act as a cheap source of labour which, when combined with a rigid wage setting system, maintains a lid on wages growth, and dampens the incentive for businesses to invest. "If you flood the labour market with low-skilled immigrants, real wages (adjusted for inflation) will fall, and productivity will decline as labour is used less efficiently," he wrote. "It's that simple." 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ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Productivity summit begins with a warning on NDIS spending
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says this week's productivity round table will be about writing "the next chapter of economic reform" as he calls on business leaders, union chiefs and advocates attending the summit to provide "concrete ideas" that help the Albanese government turbocharge the economy. Opening the three-day event in Canberra, Mr Chalmers will urge participants to focus on three objectives: making the economy more productive to lift living standards, measures to sandbag Australia's economy and repairing the budget. "Global uncertainty surrounds us, big economic challenges confront us, and our ambitions must meet this moment," he is expected to say. "Our progress in the near term … gives us the time and space to attend to the bigger, more persistent structural issues." The treasurer will point to pressures in energy, demography, technology and geopolitics, warning that Australia must act despite global instability. "We are realistic about the impact of all of this but optimistic too," he will say. The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is set to loom large over the summit, with Thursday's session on budget sustainability and tax reform expected to examine its rapidly escalating cost. That conversation will come a day after Health Minister Mark Butler is expected to make a significant policy announcement on Wednesday aimed at tightening elements of the disability insurance scheme amid reports that 16 per cent of six-year-old boys are now recipients. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday flagged the need for reform, citing concerns about its growth trajectory. "We need to make sure the system's sustainable," he told Sky News. He added that reforms passed last year to rein in NDIS spending growth to 8 per cent was an "interim target", with that growth rate still well outpacing broader GDP growth. With annual costs projected to surpass $64 billion by 2029, the NDIS is on track to become the third most expensive item in the budget, behind only health and aged pensions. The Coalition has signalled it is open to further savings, with Shadow Treasurer Ted O'Brien saying in July the scheme must be made sustainable. The NDIS, as well as defence, debt costs, health and aged care will be among the structural issues up for discussion. In an interview with the ABC, Mr Chalmers framed the productivity discussions as an effort to "work out what additional steps we need to take to make our economy more productive so that we lift living standards over time". He told the ABC his case has been strengthened by the Reserve Bank's downgrade of growth forecasts from 1 per cent to 0.7 per cent last week. "The contribution from the Reserve Bank was confronting but nonetheless welcome because it helps people understand what we're up against," he said. RBA Governor Michele Bullock will address the summit on Tuesday morning. Another looming challenge is how to replace the billions of dollars raised each year from fuel excise as Australians switch from petrol to electric vehicles. A road-user charge is under active consideration, but both the model and timing are yet to be finalised. Government sources told the ABC a likely approach is a tapered model, beginning first with heavy vehicles before being extended more broadly. The aim would be to balance fairness for early adopters with the long-term need to protect the revenue base that funds roads and infrastructure. Mr Chalmers confirmed the issue is on the agenda, but stressed the government is not rushing. "The tax base is going to change dramatically over time … We're in no rush to make changes here. We want to work through the issues in a considered, consultative, methodical way," he said. He added that discussions with state and territory governments have been ongoing since before the election, given their shared reliance on road funding. "We haven't settled a model, we haven't set a time frame. This work will take a lot of time to get right. But a government will address this challenge and we've said we're prepared to grapple with it with our colleagues and that's what we're doing."
News.com.au
8 hours ago
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Australia has ‘big problems' as AI revolution creeps in
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has warned millions of Aussies could lose their jobs, drawing parallels between AI's growing presence in Australian workplaces and working from home. Joyce criticised a new proposal from the Australian Services Union (ASU), which calls for employers to be required to give employees six months' notice before mandating a return to the office. The union also proposes that work-from-home requests should be presumed approved unless an employer validly objects, with any changes to arrangements also subject to the same six-month notice. The union also argues that employers must genuinely attempt to reach an agreement with the employee, respond within 14 days to work-from-home requests, and if refusing, set out the business grounds for doing so. But Joyce says that's all 'absurd'. 'What you're doing there is encouraging people not to employ people. You can't just say you're going to work from home today or you won't have a job,' he said on Channel 7's Sunrise. Host Natalie Barr pushed back, informing the politician that many people can and do work from home successfully. But Joyce says employees should be 'doing everything in their power' to ensure their position remains viable as AI creeps into the workplace. 'I think you got to be careful. It's not a myth, AI is coming. What you're doing is encouraging people to say 'OK, stay home for the whole week because you don't have a job anymore'. AI is coming into clerical work and remove jobs left, right, and centre,' he rebutted. 'I'd be doing everything in your power to try and keep your jobs because if people can prove they don't need to come to the office, then the office can prove they can be replaced by AI. Be really careful in not being enthusiastic about not going to the office and getting to work.' When asked on exactly how Australia could safeguard jobs, Joyce took a defeatist tone. 'I don't know whether you can, that's the problem,' he said. 'What you have to do is broaden the base of the economy, so there are alternate jobs to go to. But in our genius, we have decided to go to net zero and intermittent power, so we don't have an industrial base to absorb those jobs and that is one of the big problems we've got.' Barr then questioned minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek about claims that AI could generate a net increase in jobs. 'I think there will be different types of jobs. A lot of the repetitive work will be done by AI in the future and what we need to do is make sure there are good jobs available for Australians in new and emerging industries as well,' she said. 'We've got real capacity to develop some of those AI tools right here. 'The big data centres we're going to need to run some of these programs can be based right here and they can be powered by renewable energy. We have the cheapest form of energy available to us here in Australia. Solar, wind, we know it's the cheapest form of new energy.' Barr then pointed out that AI cannot readily replicate skilled trades and asked if Australians should learn trades instead. 'You are dead right,' Joyce responded. They should because I can assure to my accountancy days, electricians overwhelmingly earn more money than people who have graduated with arts degrees. Doctors can go and make good money, no doubt about that. But AI won't be able to turn itself into a plumber or itself into an electrician or a chippy, so trades are a place where you can sustain a good level of employment. But if you are just in clerical work ... that's what its genius does, (it) replaces people but it doesn't have hands and it doesn't have feet.' Jobs and Skills Australia forecasts that routine clerical roles (receptionists, general and accounting clerks) are most vulnerable to automation, while most occupations (79 per cent) face low automation exposure and high augmentation potential. AI is already being used in place of customer service and administration roles, with real-life examples already emerging in Sydney, such as the sacking of medical receptionists after their employer found AI systems could complete their job. The Social Policy Group estimates up to one-third of the Australian workforce could face temporary unemployment by 2030 at current AI adoption levels. Meanwhile, some CEOs are warning the public that those who don't get in line will fall behind, with Airwallex CEO Jack Zhang warning that employees must use AI daily, or risk losing their jobs. A recent report into the Australian government's AI ecosystem shows rapid growth in AI businesses, research output, and AI-based hiring, particularly across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth. But sentiments are mixed on the revolutionary and potentially dangerous technology. A recent Ipsos survey showed that while 40 per cent of workers believe AI makes jobs easier, roughly the same proportion (39 per cent ) worry about security. Academic analysis reveals that AI is increasing demand for complementary human skills, including digital literacy, teamwork, and resilience, but is quickly diminishing roles tied to repetitive skills. Net demand for human skills is rising, especially where AI augments rather than replaces.
