ASX Market Close: Languid December day sees Aussie market barely move | Dec 18

A late-ish rebound carried the Australian market into fairly positive territory this Thursday afternoon, with the wider bourse ending up +0.04% today.

As I said in the Market Open column this morning, we were always going to end up with not too many gains, though, and that ended up coming true; Aussie traders seem relatively happy dragging themselves to Chrissy now.

Energy (down -1.5%) and Utilities (-1%) didn’t get the memo, but widely, each sector added something to close. Communication and Real Estate had the better days, gaining around +0.5%, while Staples added the same.

NextDC (ASX:NXT) and Megaport (ASX:MP1) both gave back between -2% and -4% in value through Thursday’s day as U.S. technology losses bled into Down Under’s trade. So too Life360 (ASX:360), which hit a six-month low, $32.18.

Heading the other way was Bapcor (ASX:BAP) after chief Angus McKay resigned. The company popped +15%; investors seemed to like the departure.

And finally, 29Metals (ASX:29M) rocketed nearly +12% after yesterday’s boardroom changes. The explorer updated its governance rules as it looks to enter a new era early in CY26. Shares in 29M are now at 49.5c each.

That’s HotCopper Market Close for Thursday – I’ll see you back in the morning.

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