ASX 200 closes up 0.05% at 8,686.4 after fading a 50-point early gain
ASX 200 close: 8,686.4 (+0.05%) Breadth: 66 advancers / 148 decliners (227 large caps swept) Sentiment: neutral
The S&P/ASX 200 closed at 8,686.4 on 5 October 2026, up 4.3 points or 0.05%, after reaching 8,732.7 (+0.58%) about 70 minutes after the open on Friday's 0.73% S&P 500 gain and then closing near its session low as consumer discretionary (-0.88%) and gold miners (-0.95%) reversed. SXE.AU rose 9.69% to a record $5.32 after Macquarie started coverage at Outperform with a $5.60 target. NSW was on its Labour Day holiday, and S&P 500 futures were 0.08% lower at 17:30 AEDT.
What moved the index
The S&P/ASX 200 added 4.3 points, or about 5 bps, on 5 October 2026, as gains in BHP.AU and health care slightly outweighed falls in retailers and gold miners.
- BHP.AU: +1.11% to $61.89, worth about 10 bps at a weight near 9%. The close matched the A$61.84 implied by its New York ADR on Friday, and Morgan Stanley kept its Overweight rating and $68.00 target.
- Health care: the sector rose 0.74%, worth about 7 bps. CSL.AU gained 0.94% to $176.99 after a lixudebart co-development deal with Alentis Therapeutics (US$355 million upfront), and COH.AU rose 4.20%.
- Consumer discretionary: the sector fell 0.88%, costing about 7 bps. WES.AU lost 0.98% to $75.47, JBH.AU 1.06% and ALL.AU 0.60%.
- Gold miners: the All Ords Gold index fell 0.95% after opening higher, costing about 5 bps. EVN.AU -1.07%, NST.AU -0.46%, PRU.AU -2.50%, BGL.AU -2.53%.
Together, BHP.AU and health care added about 17 bps and discretionary and gold took away about 12 bps, a net of about 5 bps against the 5 bps index move. Decliners outnumbered advancers 148 to 66 across the 227 names swept, so most stocks closed lower even with the index slightly up.
Session highlights
- 8,732.7 was the session high, 50.6 points above Friday's close. The index held above 8,700 until about 1:40 pm, then slid to a low of 8,679.6 in the final half hour before closing at 8,686.4.
- WTC.AU fell 2.09% to $32.73 and XRO.AU 2.32% to $56.51, a day after Friday's 4.45% rise in information technology. The sector lost 0.48%.
- 4DX.AU fell 6.22% to $4.07 with no announcement, as Market Index reported falls in ARTRYA (AYA.AU) and EchoIQ.
- MOT.AU lost 7.41% to $1.50 as Metrics' listed funds resumed trading after a halt; MXT.AU's audited FY26 accounts showed a $47.1 million revaluation loss and a freeze on redemptions in its underlying funds. MXT.AU closed 0.28% lower at $1.75.
- HCW.AU rose 5.67% to $0.745 after re-leasing its remaining 10 Healthscope hospitals and reinstating distributions at 1.5 cents for the first quarter.
Sector scorecard
- Best: Health Care (+0.74%)
- Worst: Consumer Discretionary (-0.88%)
- Dispersion (best minus worst): 1.62 pts
- Materials (+0.36%) had the widest internal spread: BHP.AU +1.11% and RIO.AU +0.70%, against the All Ords Gold index -0.95% and LYC.AU -2.47%.
- Financials +0.05%: ANZ.AU +0.75% and MQG.AU +0.97% against CBA.AU -0.15% and NAB.AU -0.26%.
Top movers
| Ticker | Move | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| SXE.AU | +9.69% | Macquarie initiation at Outperform, $5.60 target, $1bn data centre pipeline |
| RXL.AU | +5.88% | Financial close and first drawdown on project finance, announced before the open |
| GNP.AU | +5.40% | Notice to proceed on the Parron Farm project, announced 2 October |
| PMT.AU | +4.82% | Letter of intent with Matagami for transshipment, announced before the open |
| A4N.AU | +4.80% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven. |
| 4DX.AU | -6.22% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven. |
| GLS.AU | -4.35% | Monthly NTA report and director changes lodged before the open |
| WPR.AU | -3.81% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven. |
| GOZ.AU | -3.14% | Unannounced, likely flow-driven. |
| PPC.AU | -3.14% | Acquirer INA.AU opened due diligence to Warburg Pincus' $5.25 rival proposal |
Notable announcements
- CSL.AU: US$355 million upfront to Alentis Therapeutics for lixudebart, with up to US$1.2 billion in commercial milestones and a 55/45 profit split.
- INA.AU: granted Warburg Pincus non-exclusive due diligence on its $5.25 cash proposal; the board has not called it superior to the Peet scheme.
- MAH.AU: rose 4.50% to $1.045 after a two-year, $98 million contract extension at Daisy Milano.
- CMM.AU: September quarter output of 31,218 oz at Karlawinda with the expansion complete; FY27 guidance held at 137,000 to 147,000 oz. Shares -0.35% to $14.35.
- Firmus (proposed code AIF) priced its IPO at $11.00 a share, about $43.7 billion in market value; MGH.AU, which holds 3.2%, rose 2.94% to $7.01.
At the AU close (16:00 AEDT)
| Asset | Level | Change | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 (cash) | 7,722.72 | +0.73% | Friday close after 29,000 US payrolls |
| Nikkei 225 | 69,954.67 | +2.41% | Closed; Fed hike odds fell after US payrolls |
| Hang Seng | 23,996.11 | +0.10% | Trading; mainland China shut for Golden Week |
| Brent (December) | US$101.33 | -0.90% | Aramco cut its November Asia price to a US$5 discount |
| WTI (November) | US$89.90 | -1.33% | G7 plan for up to 100 million barrels of reserves |
| AUD/USD | 0.6944 | -0.19% | US Dollar Index +0.34% to 102.28 |
Next 24h catalysts (AEDT)
- Tue 6 Oct: Firmus IPO bookbuild opens, closing 12:00 Friday 9 October unless brought forward.
- Tue 6 Oct 23:30: US international trade in goods and services for August.
- Wed 7 Oct 01:00: US services supplied through affiliates release.
- Thu 8 Oct (US time): FOMC minutes from the September meeting.
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