ASX 200 Live Today - Friday, 12th December
The S&P/ASX 200 is set to rally as investors rotate back into resources and cyclicals. Here are today's top stories.
Today’s ASX 200 Updates
Welcome to our live ASX coverage for Friday, December 12. Expect a high volume of posts pre-market and more periodic updates throughout the day. It'll wrap up around 2:00 pm AEST. Be sure to refresh manually for the latest updates — and let us know how we can make it even better.
Miners and banks power the ASX 200 to a one-month high
[2:15 pm] Two of the market's most important sectors are up strongly on Friday, with Materials (+1.71%) at record highs and Financials (+1.54%) bouncing off 7-month lows.
Materials just so happens to be the only sector with a positive performance in the past month, with Healthcare and Staples slightly lower, while Financials, Discretionary, Telcos and Tech have all fallen more than 4%.
Today marks one of the best sessions I've seen in months (and no, those dire oversold bounces in late November don't count). We're starting to see a more decisive bottom, with the ASX 200 now ~0.2% away from the 50-day moving average.
ASX 200 daily price chart (Source: TradingView)
Intraday gainers and losers
[12:52 pm] Here are the large cap stocks that have experienced the largest intraday moves ("% Chg" column measures the % change from today's open price). Genesis seems to be the only gold name that's managed to record some intraday gains, also interesting to see Macquarie and CBA catch a bid. Meanwhile, a handful of discretionary, tech and strategic metal stocks are falling to session lows.
Ticker | Company | % Chg | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
SGM | Sims | 4.90% | $18.20 |
GMD | Genesis Minerals | 3.25% | $6.83 |
VNT | Ventia Services Group | 3.02% | $5.79 |
MAF | MA Financial Group | 2.75% | $10.48 |
HDN | Homeco Daily Needs Reit | 2.34% | $1.40 |
SGH | SGH | 2.00% | $45.96 |
DRO | Droneshield | 1.87% | $2.18 |
ORI | Orica | 1.65% | $23.73 |
MQG | Macquarie Group | 1.56% | $200.08 |
CBA | Commonwealth Bank Of Australia | 1.54% | $155.85 |
Ticker | Company | % Chg | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
ASB | Austal | -6.21% | $6.19 |
GDG | Generation Development Group | -3.81% | $5.55 |
MP1 | Megaport | -3.49% | $13.15 |
LOV | Lovisa | -3.39% | $29.94 |
LTR | Liontown | -3.27% | $1.48 |
NEU | Neuren Pharmaceuticals | -3.23% | $19.17 |
GYG | Guzman Y Gomez | -3.03% | $20.95 |
EBO | Ebos Group | -2.71% | $23.84 |
LYC | Lynas Rare Earths | -2.42% | $12.88 |
TNE | Technology One | -2.17% | $27.10 |
Rio Tinto secures subsidised power deal to keep Tomago smelter open
[12:49 pm] The Commonwealth will underwrite billions of dollars in cheaper Snowy Hydro power to prevent the closure of Tomago, safeguarding jobs and supporting long-term aluminium production.
Rio Tinto agrees to keep the Tomago smelter running beyond 2028 after securing a government-backed energy deal
Federal government, and potentially NSW, will underwrite long-term Snowy Hydro power to guarantee cheaper, more reliable supply
Tomago accounts for more than one-third of Australia’s aluminium output and 12 percent of NSW electricity demand
Deal aims to accelerate NSW renewable generation and transmission, lifting supply and easing long-term electricity prices
Source: AFR
Top gainers and losers at noon
[12:02 pm] All of today's top performing large cap stocks are from the Materials sector. Meanwhile, a handful of energy, tech and discretionary stocks are trending lower.
Ticker | Company | % Chg | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
AAI | Alcoa | 5.46% | $70.15 |
NEM | Newmont | 5.27% | $149.50 |
GMD | Genesis Minerals | 5.07% | $6.74 |
WAF | West African Resources | 4.89% | $2.90 |
EMR | Emerald Resources | 4.80% | $5.90 |
BGL | Bellevue Gold | 4.53% | $1.50 |
PRU | Perseus Mining | 4.10% | $5.47 |
PDN | Paladin Energy | 4.07% | $9.33 |
GGP | Greatland Resources | 3.96% | $8.93 |
VAU | Vault Minerals | 3.78% | $5.22 |
Ticker | Company | % Chg | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
MTS | Metcash | -3.12% | $3.26 |
ASB | Austal | -3.04% | $6.23 |
APE | Eagers Automotive | -2.43% | $24.10 |
GNE | Genesis Energy | -2.37% | $2.06 |
LOV | Lovisa | -2.21% | $30.12 |
TNE | Technology One | -1.77% | $27.16 |
GYG | Guzman Y Gomez | -1.57% | $21.26 |
NEU | Neuren Pharmaceuticals | -1.43% | $19.31 |
STO | Santos | -1.11% | $6.22 |
CAR | Car Group | -1.07% | $31.07 |
ASX 200 at session highs
[11:42 am] A much needed sign of strength after yesterday's weak price action. ASX 200 currently up 1.10%, sitting around intraday highs. Very strong breadth, with 164 constituents (82%) trading higher, with most detractors coming from the tech and discretionary space. Overall, an encouraging up kick, with the Materials sector showing some signs of market leadership.
ASX Gold index back at all-time highs
[10:48 am] All Ords Gold Index up over 4% in early trade, marking fresh all-time highs after trading sideways for the past two months. Top performing large cap gold names include Genesis (+6.4%), Emerald Resources (+5.6%) and Newmont (+5.5%).
S&P/All Ords Gold Index daily chart (Source: TradingView)
ASX 200 rallies, resources extend gains
[10:20 am] ASX 200 up 0.85% in early trade and hovering a one-month high. Another resource-led session, with the Materials index up 1.85% to a fresh all-time high. The commodity complex is seeing some broad gains, with miners across the spectrum trading higher.
ASX 200 sector performance (Source: Market Index)
NAB begins Chair succession planning
[9:42 am] NAB has started planning for the eventual succession of Chair Phil Chronican, aligning the process with governance timelines.
If re-elected at today’s AGM, Phil Chronican’s fourth term will be his last
Chair succession process to be overseen by Kathryn Fagg and the Board’s Nomination & Governance Committee
Timing of succession deliberately separated from CEO appointment in April 2025
Company page: NAB (NAB)
Austal pulls back to the 200-day
[9:40 am] I haven't looked at Austral in a while, and it's now trading at an interesting juncture after rallying as much as 180% year-to-date.
The stock is now down ~25% from its October record high, which has eased its PE to 28x. It's now trading near a five-month low and just above the 200-day moving average.
Austal daily price chart (Source: TradingView)
The latest Macquarie note (29-Oct) upgraded the stock to Outperform (from Neutral), with a $8.10 target price.
"ASB's diversified order book positions it strongly for medium-term earnings growth. ASB is one of few ASX firms that provides exposure to rising global defence spending including material exposure to the US (~75% of FY25 rev)," noted the analysts.
Hanwha cleared to boost Austal stake to 19.9%
[9:30 am] Treasurer Chalmers has approved an FIRB recommendation, which allows South Korea's Hanwha to raise its shareholding while remaining a minority investor under strict conditions.
Hanwha’s stake can increase from 9.9% to 19.9%, but cannot exceed this level
Proposal subject to strict governance, data and information security conditions
Limits placed on Hanwha’s access to and storage of sensitive information
Any Hanwha nominee to Austal’s board must meet stringent criteria
Company page: Austal (ASB)
Why I'm putting Aussie tech in the backburner
[9:25 am] The past few months has been brutal for Aussie tech.
Most large caps topped (PME, TNE, XRO WTC) topped around mid-August and have been in steep downtrends ever since
High-flying names like Life360 and Qoria managed to kick on till early October, though YTD gains have folded from ~145% to 54% for Life360 and ~85% to 20% for Qoria
Despite continued strength in benchmarks like the Nasdaq and Russell 2000, all these names have continued to trend lower
In the past month, only Wisetech is positive (up only 0.6%), while 360, QOR, TNE and XRO are all down 20-28%
There has been next to no bounce, with all except Wisetech sitting around recent lows
Life360 (purple), Qoria (blue), Pro Medicus (red), TechnologyOne (black), Xero (green) and Wisetech (yellow) year-to-date price chart (Source: TradingView)
A slick gold chart
[9:12 am] Gold's recent price action has been incredibly constructive (low vol, shallow pullbacks to the 20-day), now pushing two-month highs and within 2% of all-time highs.
Gold daily price chart (Source: TradingView)
Newmont showcased a slick breakout in the last three sessions, with the overnight session (+5.3%) taking it to fresh all-time highs.
NYSE-listed Newmont daily price chart (Source: TradingView)
Amcor to proceed with 1-for-5 reverse stock split
[9:02 am] Amcor will consolidate its shares following shareholder approval, reducing total outstanding stock and reporting future metrics on a split-adjusted basis.
Reverse split approved at AGM on 6-Nov, effective trading from 15-Jan
Number of ordinary shares to fall from ~2.3 billion to ~461 million
CDIs will also be consolidated 1-for-5
Q2 per share metrics to be reported on a split-adjusted basis
Company page: Amcor (AMC)
Gold and silver stocks set to soar
[8:59 am] Overnight gold and silver miner ETFs closed at record highs as the underlying commodities continued to rally. This should set local names up for a strong session.
VanEck Gold Miners ETF up 3.5% to fresh all-time highs
Global X Silver Miners ETF up 4.5% to fresh all-time highs
Gold prices up 1.23% to US$4,279, within 2% of late-Oct record of US$4,381
Silver prices up 3.0% to US$6.35/oz, a fresh all-time high
OpenAI launches GPT-5.2 model
[8:54 am] GPT-5.2 is OpenAI’s latest AI model, designed to excel at professional tasks including coding, presentations, spreadsheets and image understanding, as part of a high-stakes competition in AI development.
GPT-5.2 available in Instant, Thinking and Pro versions, tailored for speed, structured work and high-accuracy complex tasks
Tops industry benchmarks including SWE-Bench Pro and GPQA Diamond, outperforming professionals on 70.9% of GDPval tasks
Launch follows a “code red” at OpenAI to prioritise ChatGPT development amid competition from Google and Anthropic
IEA trims global oil surplus outlook as supply growth stalls
[8:52 am] The latest IEA update points to a tighter oil balance in 2025 and 2026 as supply growth slows, OPEC+ pauses increases and demand proves more resilient than expected.
Forecast surplus for 2026 reduced by 231,000 barrels a day to 3.815 million barrels a day, marking the first downward revision in months
Supply excess narrows as OPEC+ pauses output hikes and non-OPEC+ growth moderates, while demand expectations edge higher
Global supply has fallen by 1.5 million barrels a day since September due to declines in Russia and Venezuela and outages in Kuwait and Kazakhstan
Inventories are at a four-year high, driven largely by sanctioned producers, yet this is not fully visible in major storage hubs
IEA upgrades demand growth to 830,000 barrels a day in 2025 and slightly higher in 2026, with consumption averaging a record 103.9 million barrels a day this year
Source: Bloomberg
Cyclical momentum strengthens
[8:47 am] Cyclicals have drawn renewed interest after a less hawkish Fed, with several indicators pointing to sustained near-term strength.
JPMorgan highlighted broad cyclical strength, with machinery, regional banks, housing, airlines and retail all rallying more than 2% in a single session.
Goldman Sachs noted its Cyclicals vs. Defensives basket has risen for a record 13 straight sessions, with historical 3–9 month returns after similar streaks “almost always positive and often very strong.”
Macro drivers include expectations of a 2026 fiscal impulse via OBBBA, reduced tariff drag and improving signals from the banking sector on lending, capital markets activity and consumer spend.
Oracle Q2 earnings flop
[8:46 am] Oracle shares dipped 10.8% overnight after the company posted a broad Q2 miss and sharp upward revision to its full-year capex guidance.
Revenue up 14% to US$16.06bn vs. US$16.21bn ests (0.9% miss)
Non-GAAP EPS up 54% to $2.26 vs. $1.64 ests
Non-GAAP operating income up 10% to $6.72bn vs. $6.82bn ests (1.5% miss)
Non-GAAP operating margin of 42% vs. 42.2% ests (20 bp miss)
Capex of US$12.03bn vs. $8.25bn ests (45.8% miss)
Full-year capex guidance of $50bn, up 42% from the US$35bn guidance in the previous quarter
The biggest concern right now is Oracle's cash flow and debt situation, with a debt-to-equity ratio sitting around ~450%.
Tech out, Cyclicals in
[8:38 am] Very strong overnight session for everything ex-tech and energy. Materials and Financials sector rallied 2.23% and 1.84% respectively, while Tech and Energy slipped 0.4-0.5%.
S&P 500 heatmap (Source: TradingView)
Good morning!
[8:35 am] ASX 200 futures are up 89pts (+1.03%) as of 8:30 am AEDT. The overnight session in a nutshell:
S&P 500, Dow and Russell 2000 all marked record closing highs
Oracle missed quarterly revenue, earnings and cash flow expectations, driving tech stocks broadly lower and a rotation into cyclical and value-oriented pockets of the market
Massive session for commodities, with gold higher, copper and silver marching to fresh record highs
Catch up on all the overnight moves and news via today's Morning Wrap.
