ASX Market Close: XJO below 9,000; Uranium uptick & Trump Fed firing nudges gold

Good Afternoon and welcome to HotCopper’s Market Close for Tuesday 26th of August, I’m Jon Davidson. It’s been a tamer start to the week for the index and that’s true on Tuesday too following a breather on Wall Street overnight. 

Pushing up the price of gold intraday, Trump has fired the Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over allegations the member lied about her place of residence on two different mortgages presumably for tax purposes; back home, the RBA minutes don’t appear to have informed market momentum.

Heading into the final hour of trade, the XJO was down nearly half a percent as staples led the charge up 3.17%, almost every other sector in the red except for energy. 

Looking at companies in the green, 

Boss Energy staged a comeback intraday over 8% as the uranium market was revitalised by yet another output cut by Kazakh Zazatomprom; that will come as a relief for shareholders who saw stocks slaughtered recently when the company revealed a shock production guidance downgrade. 

Elsewhere, Nanosonics, which works in ultrasound probe sterilisation devices, shot up over 13% in the final half hour on the back of a very well received FY25 report. 

Finally, metallurgical coal player Coronado jumped nearly 10% in the final half hour as that company bounced back to 40cps, it didn’t issue any news on Tuesday. 

And as for the reds, 

Kaili Resources once again pumped then dumped heavily right out the gate on Tuesday morning as that controversial explorer, recently approved to drill in South Australia, told the ASX it intends to conduct 20m deep aircore drill holes on roadside verges as part of a please explain into the company’s unusual share price movements. 

Peninsula Energy meanwhile began trading again on Tuesday after a long period of suspension, and an uptick in uranium bullishness wasn’t enough to save the uranium player, which was widely anticipated by investors. 

Finally, Commonwealth back below $170 a share heading into close as the market’s largest company heads back down to a $280B market cap – still within record levels, but perhaps indicating today’s overall risk-off mood. 

That’s Market Close for Tuesday, I’m Jon Davidson, have a great night and we’ll see you tomorrow.