Australian shares inch lower on losses in banking, gold stocks

Genesis Minerals

15/09/2025 08:01

Updates to close

Gold stocks down after two straight sessions of gains

Evolution Mining drops over 5%

Investors focus on upcoming unemployment data

By Roshan Thomas

Sept 15 - Australian shares inched lower on Monday after a pullback in banking and gold-backed stocks, while miners dropped on weak iron ore prices and persistent concerns over China’s property sector.

The S&P/ASX 200 .AXJO ended 0.1% at 8,853 points. The benchmark closed 0.7% higher on Friday.

Financials .AXFJ dropped 0.2%, pressured by profit-taking. The sub-index is now down 0.8% this month, trimming year-to-date gains of nearly 12.2%.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX, the country's top lender, dropped 0.6%, weighing on the sub-index.

Despite the decline, CBA has had a strong run this year, rising over 10% in 2025, including a 5% gain in June alone.

Greg Smith, investment specialist at New Zealand-based Generate KiwiSaver Scheme, said falling interest rates are likely to sustain home loan competition among Australian banks, which could pressure margins.

The gold sub-index .AXGD declined 2.7% after two consecutive sessions of gains. Shares of gold miner Evolution Mining EVN.AX slumped 5.3%.

Miners .AXMM also shed 0.6% as iron ore prices weakened, pressured by fresh data showing persistent weakness in China’s property sector. IRONORE/

     Among individual stocks, ANZ Group's ANZ.AX shares fell 0.6%. The lender on Monday agreed to pay A$240 million ($159.8 million) over systemic failures, including acting “unconscionably” in a government bond deal and charging fees to deceased customers.

Investors now await Australia's unemployment data due on Thursday, which will be key to assessing whether the domestic labor market is weakening.

Justin Lin, investment analyst at GlobalXETFs, expects equities to remain rangebound this week, with trading cues likely to be influenced by the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate cut decision on Wednesday.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 edged 0.1% lower to 13,208.31 points.

($1 = 1.5015 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

 ((Roshan.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com;))