To The Moon

The Australian sharemarket fell to its lowest level in almost six months, despite strong gains by the gold sector, as investors took some money off the table before US chip giant Nvidia reports earnings.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 21.2 points, or 0.3%, to 8447.90, with six of the 11 sectors trading in the red. That’s after $60 billion was erased in market value in the previous session amid growing anxiety about the market’s lofty valuations and Nvidia’s results which are due on Thursday morning AEDT.

“The artificial intelligence sector is beset with worry over the stretched valuation of stocks, scale of companies’ capital expenditure, and the broader concern about the direction of interest rates,” said Moomoo Australia and New Zealand dealing manager Paco Chow.

“With Nvidia set to report, traders have narrowed risk ahead of the release.”

The major banks weighed heavily on the ASX as investor jitters about the broader market prompted some profit-taking. Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and Macquarie all finished down more than 1%, while ANZ closed down 2% to $35.12.

Losses by the index heavyweights were offset by gains in the mining sector after gold prices climbed overnight and traded around $US4,070 an ounce in Asia buoyed by haven demand for the precious metal.

Northern Star added 2.9% to $25.59, Evolution Mining 2% to $11.04 and Newmont 1.3% to $133.06.

Oil prices also rose overnight as markets braced for deeper disruptions to Russian supply, with Europe and the US moving to further restrict Moscow’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine. This helped Woodside to climb by 1.2% to $26.27 and Santos 0.8% to $6.68.

In company news, former market darling DroneShield tumbled 19% to $1.97 after US chief executive Matt McCrann resigned, effective immediately, after serving in the position since 2022. The stock has lost more than 50% in the past month.

Webjet surged 17% to 88¢ as Helloworld lobbed a 90¢ a share takeover bid after quietly amassing a sizeable stake in the online travel agency over the past half year. The move came as Webjet reported a dip in first-half earnings. Helloworld is up 1.7% to $1.78.

Lynas Rare Earths jumped 5.6% to $15.44 after UBS upgraded the stock to “buy” and lifted its price target from $15.10 to $17.80 amid rising demand for rare earths.

Nufarm soared 11% to $2.73 as analysts said the group’s 2026 guidance pointed to strong earnings growth. The company also named group executive portfolio solutions Rico Christensen as chief executive.

TPG Telecom fell 1.8% to $3.73 as it raised $300 million through the issue of new shares, but cut the size of the round after the death of a Sydney customer who was unable to reach Triple Zero.

CSL dipped 0.5% to $179.22 after the biotech giant said it would invest $2.3 billion to expand its North American manufacturing facilities over the next five years as it seeks exemptions from US tariffs.

KMD Brands – the owner of Kathmandu, Rip Curl and Oboz – rose 2.1% to 24¢ as first quarter group sales grew 7.9% year-on-year for the period from August to October.