ASX 200 ends the week 3.19% higher at 9,263.6 as gold miners add 17.10%

ASX 200 week close: 9,263.6 (+3.19%) S&P 500 Friday close: 7,757.64 (+0.62%) Sentiment: bullish

The week on the ASX

The S&P/ASX 200 closed the week ending 7 August 2026 at 9,263.6, up 286.8 points or 3.19%, as COMEX gold rose 7.13% to US$4,399.7 an ounce and carried the miners with it. The All Ordinaries Gold sub-index (XGD) added 17.10% across the five sessions, returns among its best since early 2024. Financials, at roughly a third of index weight, added just 1.37% and fell 0.95% on Friday as investors trimmed bank positions ahead of results.

The index gained in four of five sessions: 9,019.3 on Monday, 9,145.8 on Tuesday, 9,227.8 on Wednesday, then a record close of 9,271.6 on Thursday, its third consecutive record. Friday gave back 8.0 points to 9,263.6, leaving the benchmark 33.1 points under its 9,296.7 fifty-two-week high. Advancers beat decliners 145 to 135 in the broader S&P/ASX 300 on Friday, so the dip at benchmark level did not extend to the wider market.

Sector scorecard (5-day)

Information Technology led the S&P/ASX 200 GICS sectors for the week ending 7 August 2026 at 8.40%, and Energy was the only sector to finish lower, at -1.97%.

• Best GICS sector: Information Technology (XIJ) +8.40%
• Worst GICS sector: Energy (XEJ) -1.97%
• Dispersion (best minus worst): 10.37 points
• Materials (XMJ) +7.55%, the heaviest weight among the leaders at roughly a fifth of the index
• All Ordinaries Gold (XGD) +17.10%, a sub-index rather than a GICS sector, and the week's standout
• Health Care (XHJ) +5.04%, Financials (XFJ) +1.37%, A-REITs (XPJ) +1.18%, Utilities (XUJ) -0.80%

Materials at roughly 21% of index weight accounts for close to 159 basis points of the 319 basis point index move. Financials at roughly 34% weight contributed about 47 basis points, Health Care about 40 and Information Technology about 29, while Energy subtracted about 8. Those five sectors plus the remaining six cover almost all of the week's gain, so the move was concentrated in resources rather than broad.

Top movers for the week ending 7 August

Minerals 260 (MI6.AU) led the whole-exchange gainers for the week ending 7 August 2026 at 28.81%, and Viva Energy (VEA.AU) was the largest faller at -7.02%.

The spread ran from 28.81% to -7.02%. Among names clearing a $500m market cap and 500,000-share average daily volume, no stock on the exchange fell more than 7.02% in the week, so the dispersion sat almost entirely on the upside.

Friday US session

The S&P 500 closed at 7,757.64 on 7 August 2026, up 0.62%, after US non-farm payrolls fell 23,000 in July against forecasts of a gain near 88,000.

• S&P 500: 7,757.64 (+0.62%)
• Nasdaq: 26,690.6 (+1.30%)
• Dow: 54,036.9 (+0.28%)
• VIX: 14.90 (-1.65%)

Government payrolls fell 53,000 while private payrolls rose 30,000, so the headline drop came from the public sector. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1% as the participation rate dropped to 61.4%, its lowest in more than five years, and average hourly earnings growth slowed to 3.2% year on year, the slowest since May 2021. Rate futures cut the probability of a September Federal Reserve hike to 43.9% from 57% before the release, and COMEX gold added 2.33% on Friday to US$4,399.7 an ounce.

The payrolls release landed at 10:30pm AEST on Friday, after the ASX had closed. Gold's Friday move and Wall Street's Friday gains have not yet traded on the local market. AUD/USD ended the week at 0.7070, up 0.65%, which trims the Australian-dollar value of US earnings for names such as CSL.AU and WTC.AU.

Macro themes that played out

COMEX gold rose 7.13% over the week to US$4,399.7 an ounce, its largest weekly gain since January, and the gold miners took the index with them. GMD.AU added 24.87%, CMM.AU 22.27%, EVN.AU 18.90% and NST.AU 14.07%. COMEX silver rose 3.8% on Friday alone to US$63.96 an ounce.

COMEX copper touched a record US$6.866 a pound during the week before easing to US$6.743 in Asian trade on Friday, and the copper futures contract finished 2.41% higher over the five sessions. Lithium recovered alongside it, with GFEX lithium carbonate futures in China up 1.1% to CNY 143,020 a tonne on Friday; LTR.AU gained 22.28% and PLS.AU 10.36% for the week.

WTI crude fell 7.67% to US$78.18 a barrel across the week, which explains four of the five largest fallers. Brent recovered late, adding 3.8% overnight into Friday and a further 1.3% to US$83.55 in Asian trade, after Iran threatened to bar US and Israeli ships under the proposed Strait of Hormuz arrangement. SGX iron ore futures eased 0.9% to US$95.30 a tonne on Friday and FMG.AU finished the week down 2.65%, the only large-cap miner to fall.

RMD.AU fell 8.29% on Friday after FY26 device revenue for the US, Canada and Latin America came in at $459m against $462.3m consensus, despite a 10% dividend increase. JHX.AU rose 5.8% the same session after June-quarter income climbed 67% to US$104.3m, ahead of consensus. Both results landed outside the resources move that set the week.

Week ahead: Mon to Fri (AEST)

• Mon 10 Aug: Westpac (WBC.AU) third-quarter update. The RBA Monetary Policy Board begins its two-day meeting.
• Tue 11 Aug: RBA cash rate decision at 2:30pm AEST, released with the quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy. The cash rate has been 4.35% since 17 June 2026, after hikes in February, March and May.
• Wed 12 Aug: Commonwealth Bank (CBA.AU) FY26 result and final dividend, consensus net profit near $10,875m. US July CPI at 10:30pm AEST.
• Thu 13 Aug: ANZ (ANZ.AU) third-quarter update.
• Fri 14 Aug: No scheduled top-tier domestic data. National Australia Bank (NAB.AU) reports its third-quarter update the following Monday, 17 August.

Monday's open carries Friday's US payrolls reaction, which the local market has not yet priced. Three of the four major banks update inside four sessions, against a Financials sector that added 1.37% while Materials added 7.55%.

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