ASX 200 closes flat at 8,976.8 as a CSL slide cancels out a 1.4% mining rally
ASX 200 close: 8,976.8 (+0.10%) Breadth: 133 advancers / 82 decliners across 227 large caps swept Sentiment: mixed
The S&P/ASX 200 closed at 8,976.8 on 31 July 2026, up 9.1 points or 0.10%, after a 1.43% rise in Materials ran into a 1.85% fall in Health Care and a 0.37% dip in the Financials sector that carries about a third of the index. CSL.AU fell 3.81% to $123.06 with no company announcement, the single largest drag on the benchmark. Australian second-quarter producer prices rose 1.3% against a 0.3% forecast and China's July manufacturing PMI printed 49.2 against 50.0 expected, and those two prints at 11:30 AEST split the market between miners and everything else.
What moved the index
- Materials, +1.43%: worth roughly 29 basis points on an approximate 20% index weight. Copper rose 2.4% overnight to US$6.55/lb and iron ore added 0.4% to US$96.05 a tonne after unions flagged 24-hour stoppages at BHP's Port Hedland terminal. BHP.AU gained 1.96% to $60.31 and RIO.AU 1.28% to $170.57.
- Health Care, -1.85%: roughly 17 basis points off the index on an approximate 9% weight. CSL.AU -3.81%, SHL.AU -2.84%, COH.AU -1.85% and RMD.AU -1.52%, none of them carrying an announcement today.
- Financials, -0.37%: roughly 12 basis points, and the biggest drag in absolute terms because the sector holds close to a third of the index. Producer prices at 1.3% quarter on quarter ran at their fastest since the third quarter of 2023, which trimmed the case for near-term rate cuts. CBA.AU -0.40%, WBC.AU -0.73%, QBE.AU -2.48%.
- Consumer Staples, -1.26%: roughly 5 basis points. WOW.AU -1.73%, A2M.AU -2.55%, COL.AU -0.70%.
Those four sectors, plus roughly 9 basis points of green from REITs (+0.69%), Information Technology (+0.56%), Utilities (+0.54%) and Energy (+0.37%), net out to about the 10 basis points the index added. The weights behind those figures are approximate. Both sides still land within a few basis points of each other.
Session highlights
- 9,053.1 was the session high, reached inside the first hour. The 8,976.8 close handed back 76.3 of those points, turning a 0.95% gain into 0.10%.
- Materials ran up as much as 3.13% in early trade before settling at +1.43%. The All Ordinaries Gold Index followed the same shape, up 3.1% early and 1.62% at the close.
- Small Ordinaries +1.40% against the ASX 200's +0.10%, a gap of 1.3 percentage points, with 133 of the 227 large caps swept finishing higher. The drag sat in the largest weights.
- KOSPI +17.91% to 6,595.45 was its largest single-day gain on record, after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 8.2% overnight. Australia lists no memory or foundry name of comparable size.
- AU VIX closed at 11.41, down 2.33%.
Sector scorecard
- Best: Materials (+1.43%)
- Worst: Health Care (-1.85%)
- Dispersion (best minus worst): 3.28 pts
- Materials held the widest internal spread. BHP.AU +1.96% and RIO.AU +1.28% ran against FMG.AU -1.86% and CIA.AU -5.80%, separating the diversified miners with copper exposure from the pure-play iron ore names after the China PMI miss.
Top movers
| Ticker | Move | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 4DX.AU | +13.08% | Quarterly activity report and Appendix 4C lodged pre-open |
| CU6.AU | +12.86% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven |
| MP1.AU | +11.52% | No announcement. Moved with AWS capex guidance of US$220bn |
| SLX.AU | +10.29% | Uranium names bid: DYL.AU +8.64%, PDN.AU +7.05%, NXG.AU +5.40% |
| EOS.AU | +9.67% | Defence names bid from the open |
| CIA.AU | -5.80% | Pure-play iron ore into a 49.2 China manufacturing PMI |
| DMP.AU | -5.21% | Second session of selling after this week's earnings update |
| DRO.AU | -4.24% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven |
| WTC.AU | -4.20% | Macquarie cut its target 52% to $47.10 from $97.70 |
| SMR.AU | -4.15% | Coal sold off: WHC.AU -2.79%, NHC.AU -2.99%, YAL.AU -2.11% |
Notable announcements
- FMG.AU shipped a record 201.3Mt in FY26, but June quarter shipments of 52.7Mt missed the 53.0Mt consensus and the realised price of US$88.85/dmt landed 3% light. Shares fell 1.86% to $18.51.
- ORG.AU confirmed a data incident affecting about 900,000 customers alongside APLNG FY26 production of 668 PJ, above the 645 to 680 PJ guidance midpoint. Shares rose 0.94% to $10.76.
- CMM.AU beat on June quarter gold sold at 34.3koz against 32.8koz consensus and on all-in sustaining costs at $1,648/oz against $1,952/oz, then guided FY27 production 5.3% below Macquarie's forecast. Shares closed 0.23% lower after rallying 5.0% at the open.
- WTC.AU drew a 52% target cut from Macquarie to $47.10 after the broker stripped US Container Transport Optimisation out of its forecasts, having found no evidence of a near-term rollout.
At the AU close (16:15 AEST)
| Asset | Level | Change | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 (Thu close) | 7,437.63 | +1.66% | MSFT.US +15.51% on Azure passing US$100bn |
| S&P 500 futures | 7,503.50 | +0.41% | Pointing higher again into Friday's US session |
| Nasdaq 100 futures | 28,530.00 | +1.03% | Nasdaq closed +2.78% overnight |
| KOSPI | 6,595.45 | +17.91% | Record single-day gain, SK Hynix +29.95% |
| Nikkei 225 | 64,362.02 | +4.03% | Semiconductor names rebounded |
| Brent | US$88.08 | -1.07% | Saudi proposal for a naval shipping coalition |
| Gold | US$4,132.50/oz | -0.68% | All Ordinaries Gold Index closed +1.62% |
| Copper | US$6.494/lb | +0.30% | Holding an overnight gain of 2.4% |
| AUD/USD | 0.7040 | +0.13% | US dollar index +0.30% |
| US VIX | 16.85 | -1.41% |
Next 24h catalysts (AEST)
- Sun 2 Aug OPEC+ meets and is expected to approve 188,000 barrels a day for September, completing the unwind of 1.65 million barrels a day of voluntary cuts
- Mon 3 Aug 09:00 ASX opens August after a 2.26% July gain and a 2.33% week
- Mon 3 Aug 11:45 China Caixin manufacturing PMI for July, following today's official 49.2 print
- Tue 4 Aug Fair Work Commission hearing on the BHP Port Hedland enterprise dispute
- Thu 6 Aug Australian trade balance for June
- Sat 8 Aug BHP Port Hedland 24-hour ship-loading stoppage flagged by three unions, with a second the following day
- Tue 11 Aug 14:30 RBA monetary policy decision and Statement on Monetary Policy
- Tue 18 Aug CSL.AU FY26 results
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