Updated August 20, 2026 — 11:03am,first published August 20, 2026 — 5:28am
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The Australian sharemarket advanced in early trade on Thursday, tracking a recovery on Wall Street as pressure from the bond market eased after the US Treasury unveiled plans to buy back longer-dated debt to curb borrowing costs.
The S&P/ASX 200 was up 26.30 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 9080.10 as of 10.54am AEST, having fallen for six straight sessions. Four of its 11 industry sectors were in the green, led by gold miners and tech stocks. The Australian dollar was stronger at US71.26¢.
It’s another busy day on the reporting season calendar, with Fortescue and Northern Star among companies who revealed their results. Australia’s unemployment figures for July will be released at 11.30am AEST.
Miners led the early gains, with gold miners rallying after bullion held the biggest gain in six months after the US Treasury’s surprise move to rein in long-term borrowing costs. Gold was trading above $US4500 an ounce, after surging more than 4 per cent on Wednesday.
The US Treasury unexpectedly announced it’s ramping up buybacks of long-dated government debt, signalling it wants to lower borrowing costs after yields hit multi-decade highs. Gold has been volatile in recent weeks amid fears Iran-war-fuelled inflation might force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, which boosted bond yields and weighed non-yielding assets like gold.
Northern Star Resources rallied 7 per cent, also after showing how it benefited from gold’s record highs earlier this year. Its net income soared 24 per cent to $1.7 billion in the year to June 30, the miner said, thanks to a 26 per cent rise in the average price it was able to fetch for its gold. Rivals Evolution Mining and Newmont jumped 8.5 per cent and 7.3 per cent, respectively.
Iron ore producer Fortescue opened lower, but then joined the mining rally even after saying its full-year profit fell despite buoyant iron ore prices as China’s property slowdown and negotiations with the country’s state-backed buyer dragged on. The miner posted a net profit of $US2.9 billion for the 12 months to June 30, down 15 per cent on the year before.
The results conclude a challenging year for Fortescue, which is in active negotiations with China’s state-backed iron ore buyer. China Mineral Resources Group has imposed restrictions on shipments of Super Special Fines, a cheaper low-grade ore that is one of Fortescue’s key exports.
Its bigger rivals BHP and Rio Tinto gained in early trade, rising 2.5 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively.
Tech stocks were the other big winners, shrugging off falls by Big Tech stocks on Wall Street overnight. Software makers Xero and WiseTech – which slumped almost 9 per cent on Wednesday after the competition watchdog executed a search warrant on its offices – were up 2.6 per cent and 5.9 per cent. Communications and metal detection tech firm Codan soared 10.1 per cent after reporting a 69 per cent profit jump and raising its dividend by 70 per cent.
Financial stocks were trading lower, with all big four banks down in early trade. CBA , Westpac and ANZ Bank shed 1.1 per cent each and National Australia Bank lost 1.2 per cent.
Property giant Goodman Group slipped 1.2 per cent even after it said the boom in demand for data centres from AI and cloud computing, networking, and storage hyperscalers gave it a 15.7 per cent jump in full-year operating profit to $2.67 billion. “Automation and robotics continue to drive logistics requirements while scarcity of power and land remains the key constraint on AI and cloud growth supporting data centre demand,” chief executive Greg Goodman said.
Super Retail Group rallied 15.6 per ent after posting a $206 million full-year profit, down 7.2 per cent but better than analysts expected. The operator of Rebel, Macpac and Supercheap Auto said it had a positive start to the new financial year, with sales up 3.5 per cent in the first seven weeks, although the fuel crisis, rising interest rates, inflation and pressure on housing markets were “creating uncertainty around the outlook for 2027”.