End of Day Report – Friday 12 December: ASX 200 up 105 | Gold miners soar, banks rally hard

The ASX 200 finished the week on a very firm note up 105 points to 8697(1.2%). Up 0.7% for the week. Across the board gains, with banks surging as CBA rose 2.1% and NAB up 1.8% after its AGM. The Big Bank Basket rose to $272.70 (+1.8%). Other financials also did well, MQG bouncing 2.7% and insurers too better. QBE and SUN up over 1%. REITs bounced, GMG up 0.8% and VCX up 2.4% with healthcare too also doing well, CSL rallying 2.9% with SIG up 1.4%. Industrials better but not flying. Retail saw some shoppers out and about, JBH up 2.7% and MYR up 4.4% with losses in LOV and TPW continuing. Tech remained a sub-optimal place to be, TNE down 1.6% with XRO continuing to fall, down another 0.5% with the All-Tech Index off 0.2%.

Resources again was the place to be. Gold miners soared as brokers started to amend forecasts for metal prices higher as 2026 comes into view. NST up 2.9%, GMD up 7.6% and NEM rising 5.7%. BHP and RIO also strong on copper exposure, and uranium stocks gained ground. PDN up 4.8% and DYL rising 4.9%. Lithium stocks were a little depressed.

In corporate news, former ANZ CEO is suing the bank for his lost $13.5m bonus. ASB dropped 3% on news that Jim Chalmers will allow Hanwha to increase its stake to near 20%. 4DX jumped 8.8% on an options deal and BMC Minerals debuted.

Nothing on the economic front.

Asian markets pushed higher, Japan up 1.7% with HK up 1.4% and China up 0.1%. 

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