plainmoney — Australian market brief — Saturday 13 Jun 2026 — 06:21 AEST
The 30-second brief
Markets are closed for the weekend, so here's a quick wrap. Australian shares finished the week on a strong note, helped by a solid Friday on Wall Street (S&P 500 +0.5%) and a jump in commodity prices — copper +3.6% and gold +3.5% drove the big miners up (BHP +3.5%, Fortescue +3.1%). The Aussie dollar firmed to about US70.5c, and the cash rate is steady at 4.3%. The week ahead brings the big one: Australian jobs figures on Thursday 18 June. What it means for you — Super: a good week as shares and miners rose. Cost of living: oil eased ~4%. Home loan: unchanged.
How the week finished
The miners powered higher on Friday — BHP +3.5%, Fortescue +3.1%, as copper (+3.6%) and gold (+3.5%) rallied. For Australia: strong commodity prices lift mining profits, the Aussie dollar, and the broader ASX.
Wall Street finished firmer and calm returned — the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and the VIX fear gauge fell to about 18, settling down after a jittery mid-week.
The Aussie firmed — back to about US70.5c (+0.8% on Friday), helped by the stronger commodity prices.
What it means for your money
Your super: a good week — shares, and especially the miners, rose.
Your cost of living: oil fell about 4%, a small reprieve at the petrol bowser; the firmer Aussie also helps imported goods a touch.
Your home loan: no change — the RBA cash rate is steady at 4.3%.
What to watch next week
Australian jobs figures (Labour Force), Thursday 18 June, 11:30am AEST. Not a prediction — just the two ways it could go: a strong jobs number keeps the Reserve Bank comfortable holding rates, which tends to support the Aussie dollar; a weak number revives talk of rate cuts, which tends to soften it. The one number to watch for which way it's resolving: the Australian 10-year government bond yield.
Today's moves
The numbers
S&P/ASX 200
8,633.20
▼ -0.2%
AUD/USD
0.7051
▲ +0.8%
Iron ore 62% Fe
101.60
▼ -0.1%
RBA cash rate
4.3%
AU 10y bond
4.9%
AU–US 10y spread
+41 bp
S&P 500
7,431.46
▲ +0.5%
Nasdaq
25,888.84
▲ +0.3%
US 10y
4.5%
▲ +2 bp
Gold
4,234.10
▲ +3.5%
WTI crude
84.43
▼ -3.7%
BTC (AUD)
90,100.00
▲ +0.2%
What's coming up
18Jun11:30AU Labour Force AU
24Jun11:30AU Monthly CPI indicator AU
What we're watching
RBA cash-rate path — Cash rate per latest RBA F1.1 (see today's numbers); market pricing for the next meeting tracked via OIS.
US Fed path — US 10y and Fed pricing set the global discount rate that flows into AUD and ASX valuations.
Iron ore & China demand — AU's #1 export; watch the big miners — BHP, Rio, Fortescue — as the live read on iron-ore demand.
China property & stimulus — Structural drag on AU commodity demand; watch PBoC/LPR and developer stress.
AU housing cycle — Mortgage cost = cash rate PLUS bank funding spreads; monthly Cotality + weekend auctions are the free read.
Yen carry & BoJ — AUD/JPY is a sensitive gauge of risk appetite; a sharp yen rally can force global de-risking (cf. Aug-2024).
AI capex cycle — Drives global tech valuations and, via data-centre power/copper/uranium, several AU names.
Global risk regime — VIX + credit + equity-bond correlation define whether we're in a calm or stressed regime.