Afternoon Report | Record copper price boosts market

This is the Fear and Greed Afternoon Report - everything you need to know about what happened in the markets, economy and world of business today, in just a few minutes.

1. ASX up, household spending surges

2. Copper hits record high

3. Whistleblower warning

4. Chinese nationals found in remote WA

5. Heatwave conditions

Join our free daily newsletter here.

Find out more: https://fearandgreed.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report
for Thursday, the fourth of December. I'm Michael Thompson, and
every afternoon we have the five big stories that you
need to know about. Let's get going with story number one.
The S and BA SEX two hundred closed zero point
three percent higher today to eighty six hundred and eighteen points.
That was largely thanks to the big miners and the
price of copper, which I will get to in a moment.

(00:25):
But the other key piece of data affecting markets today
was household spending figures, which jumped by the most in
two years. More economists now talking about rate hikes next year.
The banks then, were all up today, with A and
Z best of the bunch, up one point seven percent.
The real estate sector went the other way, weighed down

(00:45):
by the potential for higher borrowing costs if rates rise.
Stockland was down one point eight percent and Goodman Group
off two point seven percent. Retailers also had a tough day,
with JB High Fire down more than one percent. But
as I'm mean mentioned, the big story in markets was
in the minors, which takes us neatly to story number two.
The price of copper has surged to a record high

(01:08):
on fears that potential new US tariffs could tighten global supply,
just as demand for the metal keeps on climbing. Copper
is of course, we've talked about this a lot. It's
vital for the transition to a greener economy. It's used
in so many different aspects of electrification, from electric cars
to wind and solar everything in between. There are fears
that these US tariffs could affect supply. The price is rising.

(01:31):
The benchmark copper price on the London Metal Exchange is
around eleven and a half thousand US dollars a ton.
Great news for Australia's big miners, particularly BHP has really
doubled down on its copper operations in the last few years.
BHP share price was up three point seven percent today
to its highest level in more than a year. Rio
Tinto jumped two point nine percent to a new record

(01:53):
for the company, South thirty two more than four percent,
Sandfire Resources up four point one percent, and Capstone Copper well,
that was the best for the miners, up eight percent today.
At pretty remarkable day all round for the miners, all
thanks to that price of copper moving on to story
number three now and the Corporate Regulator says too many

(02:16):
Australian businesses are still making it hard for whistleblowers to
speak up about misconduct. A survey of one hundred and
thirty four companies by ASK found that one in three
don't have a dedicated whistleblower web page, one in five
don't offer a hotline, and even where systems exist, nearly
a quarter of firms reported zero disclosures over the year.

(02:38):
Most reports that did come through were about workplace mistreatment
or disputes, and around one in four investigated cases were
likely true. Asset Commissioner Alan Kirkland says companies should benchmark
themselves against the data and lift their game, warning that
without trusted whistleblower programs, serious misconduct can stay hidden for years.

(03:00):
Ring number four. Border authorities are investigating how six Chinese
nationals ended up in one of the most remote parts
of Australia's coastline. The men were found near an isolated
community in far north western Australia, an area currently cut
off by road only reachable by air or by boat.
Two men were first spotted by an off duty police

(03:21):
officer about twelve kilometers from town, with four more later
found walking in from the beach. Locals say they stood
out in the tropical heat. They were wearing long pants
no obvious way of having arrived. Border force vessels were
sent to the area. The men were assessed at the
local police facility, then flown out. It's not known where
they were taken to. Authorities said they couldn't release that

(03:42):
citing operational reasons. It is the second suspected unauthorized boat
arrival on WA's remote northern coast in the last couple
of years, and finally story number five. Australians are being
warned to brace for dangerous heat over the next couple
of days, with severe and extreme heat wave conditions building
across multiple states and territories. The Bureau of Meteorology has

(04:03):
issued heat wave alerts for parts of New South Wales,
Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The New South Wales
South Coast faces an extreme heat wave, which is the
highest risk category, while western Sydney and parts of the
Hunter are expected to climb into the low forties by Saturday.
Severe heat wave conditions also forecast are parts of the
Kimberley and Pilborough daytime temperatures in the high thirties to

(04:26):
mid forties, hot nights probably not offering a great deal
of relief. A cool change should reach New South Wales
late Saturday into Sunday, but the heat in WA and
the Northern Territory likely to linger into next week. And
that's it for the Afternoon Report for Thursday, the fourth
of December. Make sure you're following the podcast and head
along to Fear and Greed dot com dot au to

(04:46):
sign up for our free daily newsletter. I'll put a
link in today's show notes as well. I'm Mirk Thompson.
Have a good evening.