ASX 200 falls 0.77% to 8,660.9 as banks and miners slide; MGH.AU drops 22%

ASX 200 close: 8,660.9 (-0.77%) Breadth: 72 advancers / 144 decliners Sentiment: bearish

The S&P/ASX 200 closed at 8,660.9 on 8 October 2026, down 66.8 points or 0.77%, 1.6 points above its session low, as the big four banks fell about 1.5% each and BHP.AU (-2.02%) and RIO.AU (-2.86%) fell as the US Dollar Index reached its highest level since April 2025. MGH.AU fell 22.38% to $4.96 after reports that Firmus, the data centre operator in which Maas holds a 3.2% stake, may cut its IPO price from $11 to as low as $8.25 a share. The close leaves the index 0.61% lower for 2026 (Market Index).

What moved the index

The ASX 200 lost about 77 bps on 8 October 2026; banks and miners took off about 82 bps, and energy, consumer staples and utilities added back about 12 bps.

• Banks: CBA.AU -1.50% to $148.12, WBC.AU -1.55%, NAB.AU -1.56%, ANZ.AU -1.55% and MQG.AU -0.80%, worth about -37 bps. No bank filed a price-sensitive announcement; the financials index fell 0.99% to 9,012.0.
• Iron ore and copper majors: BHP.AU -2.02%, RIO.AU -2.86% and FMG.AU -1.37%, worth about -27 bps. Fortescue's September quarter shipments fell 6% to 46.8Mt and net debt rose to US$2.8bn from US$0.9bn at 30 June.
• Gold, uranium, lithium and rare earths: the All Ords Gold index fell 1.38%, PDN.AU -6.34%, LYC.AU -5.34%, IGO.AU -5.20% and PLS.AU -4.64%, worth about -18 bps after December gold lost 1.20% overnight and the Global X Uranium ETF fell 4.47%.
• Energy, staples and utilities: the energy index rose 1.36% (WDS.AU +2.57%, STO.AU +1.52%), staples 1.42% and utilities 1.34%, worth about +12 bps as Brent rose 2.73% to US$102.94.

Together these four drivers account for about -70 bps of the -77 bps move; industrials (-0.92%) and information technology (-0.77%) supply most of the roughly -7 bps residual, with 144 decliners against 72 advancers.

Session highlights

• 8,659.3 to 8,707.4 was the session range on Yahoo's intraday data; the index opened below the 8,701 futures level of 7.30am and closed 1.6 points above the low.
• SKS.AU (-10.10%) and SXE.AU (-6.86%) fell with MGH.AU on the Firmus reports, a day after the Jinks family sold 10.0 million SKS.AU shares at $10.60.
• ASX.AU rose 3.84% to $60.59 after UBS raised its valuation to $65.50 from $64.20 and cited a 33% rise in September quarter futures volumes.
• 2.00% was the KOSPI fall; the Shanghai Composite lost 0.98% on its first session after the National Day holiday and the Nikkei 0.95%.
• 4.90% was the Australian 3-year bond yield and 5.39% the 10-year, both flat on the day (Market Index, 4:24 pm).

Sector scorecard

• Best: Consumer Staples (+1.42%), led by WOW.AU +1.65% and COL.AU +1.35%
• Worst: Materials (-2.03%)
• Dispersion (best minus worst): 3.45 pts
• Materials had the widest internal spread: MIN.AU -4.39% and PLS.AU -4.64% against MI6.AU +2.45%.
• Communication Services rose 0.89%, with TLS.AU +1.25% to $4.86.

Top movers

Notable announcements

• FMG.AU: September quarter iron ore shipments of 46.8Mt, sales of 42.9Mt, hematite realised price US$80/dmt (82% of the Platts 61% index), net debt US$2.8bn; FY27 guidance unchanged, subject to the China Mineral Resources Group negotiations. Shares cut a 4.2% intraday fall to 1.37%.
• MGH.AU: told the ASX it was not aware of any undisclosed information in response to a price query, and said speculation over the Firmus IPO had weighed on sentiment.
• LOV.AU: CFO Chris Lauder will serve a six-month notice period to 7 April 2027 while the board searches for a successor.
• RMS.AU (-0.80%): September quarter gold production of 48,839oz, cash and gold up 18% to $768 million, FY27 guidance of 205,000oz to 225,000oz reaffirmed.

At the AU close (16:15 AEDT)

Next 24h catalysts (AEDT)

• Thu 23:30: US weekly jobless claims.
• Fri 07:00: Wall Street close, after the S&P 500 finished Wednesday at 7,801.77.
• Fri 10:00: ASX open, after the ASX 200 closed at 8,660.9.

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