SYDNEY — Australian shares closed lower Friday, with the S&P/ASX 200 falling 62.2 points, or 0.70%, to 8,778.5, as weakness in mining and energy stocks weighed on the benchmark index following a rough overnight session on Wall Street.

The decline extended a softer patch for the local market after Thursday’s session, when the index gave back early gains to finish only marginally lower at 8,840.7 points. Friday’s open had already been expected to be soft, with futures pricing in a roughly 26-point, or 0.3%, decline heading into the session after major U.S. indexes fell sharply overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.3%, the S&P 500 fell 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.5% as chip stocks led losses on Wall Street, souring sentiment heading into the Australian trading day.

Gold miners were among the hardest hit sectors on the local bourse. Overnight, gold futures fell 1.8% to $3,979 an ounce, driven by growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve could deliver a further interest rate increase, which tends to reduce demand for the precious metal by raising the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets. That pullback in gold prices weighed heavily on ASX-listed gold miners, including Evolution Mining and Newmont Corporation, both of which were tipped for a difficult finish to the trading week.

Energy stocks similarly struggled after oil prices retreated overnight. According to Bloomberg data, West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.7% to $79.05 a barrel, pressuring shares of Santos and Woodside Energy Group as investors weighed the impact of softer crude prices on the sector’s near-term earnings outlook.

Not every corner of the market moved lower. Retail giant Harvey Norman Holdings drew a bullish note from Bell Potter, which retained its buy rating on the stock while trimming its price target to $6.00, implying potential upside of roughly 26% from current levels. The broker also pointed to an expected dividend yield above 6% for the 2027 financial year, noting that despite a more challenging retail environment expected in the first half of that year, Harvey Norman’s shares continued to trade at what the broker considered an attractive forward earnings multiple of around 13 times, even as analysts anticipated a recovery weighted toward the second half of the coming financial year.

Elsewhere in company-specific news, aluminum producer Alcoa cut its 2026 alumina production guidance, lowering its forecast to a range of 9.5 million to 9.6 million tonnes, down 0.2 million to 0.3 million tonnes from prior guidance, while trimming its shipment forecast to a range of 11.5 million to 11.6 million tonnes. The company’s aluminium production guidance was left unchanged. The revised outlook, announced after the U.S. market close, sent Alcoa shares down 2.5% in after-hours trading, a move that rippled into sentiment around Australian-listed alumina and aluminium producers given the close ties between the two markets.

REA Group also made headlines Friday after confirming a deal to sell its Housing.com business in India to Aurum PropTech. Under the terms of the agreement, REA Group’s Indian unit, REA India, will receive Aurum shares valued at approximately $68 million as consideration for the sale, rather than a cash payment. The transaction will lift REA India’s equity stake in Aurum to 24.9% from 5.5% upon completion, with that stake to be accounted for by REA Group as a financial asset going forward. The company said it expects to book an overall loss on the divestment of approximately $110 million, reflecting a goodwill impairment and associated transaction costs. The sale follows a broader strategic review of REA Group’s Indian operations, which had already seen the company sell its PropTiger business to Aurum and close its Housing Edge unit earlier in the current financial year.

Corporate Travel Management also featured in Friday’s trading updates, though not for a positive reason. The company announced that Shelley Sorrenson will step down as Company Secretary and Group Chief Legal Officer effective August 14, with the company saying it would update the market once a replacement had been appointed. Corporate Travel Management’s shares have remained suspended from trading on the ASX since August 22 last year, when the company first requested a trading halt before moving into a voluntary suspension days later while it investigated potential issues requiring the rectification and restatement of prior financial statements.

In broader merger and acquisition news, Coles confirmed it would not proceed with a potential acquisition of veterinary care business Greencross, walking away from a deal that had been the subject of market speculation since news of a potential transaction first emerged on July 1. Private equity firm TPG Capital originally acquired Greencross in 2019 for approximately $675 million, and reports had suggested the business could command a price closer to $4 billion in a potential sale this time around, a substantial sum relative to Coles’ roughly $30 billion market capitalization that likely would have required the supermarket giant to take on additional debt or pursue a capital raising to fund the purchase. News of the potential deal had already triggered a negative reaction in both Coles and rival Woolworths shares earlier in the month.

Friday’s session capped a mixed week for Australian equities, with the benchmark index oscillating within a relatively narrow band as investors weighed a combination of global interest rate expectations, commodity price swings and company-specific developments across the mining, retail and travel sectors. With gold and oil prices both under pressure and Wall Street sentiment souring heading into the weekend, traders said the local market would likely remain sensitive to further shifts in U.S. Federal Reserve rate expectations and any additional developments affecting commodity prices in the sessions ahead.

By Christopher Gannatti, CFA

There is a version of the OpenAI (OPENAI) story that runs through language, with the company that gave the world ChatGPT, GPT-4 and the agentic systems now beginning to reshape knowledge work. That

Shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms and sold at select Taco Bell restaurants has been identified as a potential source of a growing multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis, according to multiple people familiar with the investigation, as case counts continue to climb across the country.

The link was first reported by The Washington Post on July 16, citing two people familiar with the ongoing investigation. CNN separately confirmed the connection through a source familiar with the matter. Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has publicly confirmed Taylor Farms or Taco Bell as the source, and officials have continued to describe the link as a potential one rather than a confirmed cause.

The outbreak, caused by a microscopic parasite that leads to cyclosporiasis, has expanded rapidly since it began in May. According to CDC data published Tuesday, nearly 7,000 cases have been confirmed or are under investigation nationwide since May 1, with confirmed cases running more than six times higher than they were at the same point last year. At least 141 hospitalizations have been reported, though no deaths have been linked to the outbreak. Separate reporting has cited slightly different case tallies, with one count putting confirmed cases at 1,645 and more than 5,100 additional cases still under investigation, underscoring how quickly the numbers have been shifting as health officials continue gathering data.

While cases have been reported across the country, the outbreak connected to the lettuce is considered a regional cluster centered in the Midwest. The CDC has identified at least 400 cases tied specifically to this cluster across four states — Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky — corresponding to where the affected Taco Bell locations are believed to be located, according to a source who spoke with CNN. Officials cautioned that the lettuce supplied to those restaurants may have also been distributed to other locations beyond the four states currently linked to the cluster.

Michigan has emerged as the epicenter of the outbreak, with the state’s health department reporting more than 4,300 cyclospora cases as part of its investigation, a tally that exceeds the CDC’s own case count for the broader outbreak. State health officials said they had interviewed more than 1,000 people as part of their investigation and had previously flagged lettuce or salad greens as a potential source even before the specific link to Taylor Farms and Taco Bell was reported. The department acknowledged some uncertainty in attributing every illness to a single source, saying it could not say with certainty that every case was connected to the same exposure, but noted that the sharp, concentrated rise in cases strongly suggested that the vast majority of the illnesses stemmed from a shared outbreak. If confirmed, health officials said the cluster would represent the largest cyclospora outbreak recorded in the United States.

Taco Bell responded to the growing scrutiny with a statement Thursday, saying the company had taken proactive steps in response to conversations with public health officials. “Based on ongoing conversations with public health officials, and out of an abundance of caution, Taco Bell has taken immediate action to voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states,” the company said. The chain added that the ingredient in question was being permanently removed from its supply chain nationwide and would be replaced within 24 hours in the affected states. In an earlier statement issued Tuesday, a Taco Bell spokesperson said the company had voluntarily and temporarily removed limited ingredients from some restaurants as a precaution, while noting that public health officials had not at that point confirmed a link to Taco Bell or to any specific ingredient, supplier, restaurant or retailer.

Taylor Farms did not respond to requests for comment from multiple news outlets, including CNN and NBC News, regarding the investigation. Yum Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Cyclosporiasis is caused by consuming food or water contaminated with the cyclospora parasite and is not typically spread through direct person-to-person contact. The illness has previously been linked to fresh produce in past outbreaks, according to the CDC. Symptoms of the infection can include watery diarrhea, cramping, bloating, loss of appetite and low-grade fever, with symptoms sometimes persisting for weeks if untreated.

Federal health officials have said multiple investigations are currently underway related to the broader rise in cyclospora cases this year, including some tied to the large Midwest cluster, some limited to individual states, and others involving cases that have not yet been connected to any identified cluster. The CDC has also noted that case counts are likely to continue rising as more data comes in, citing a reporting lag of up to six weeks between when a person first becomes ill and when their case is officially reported to health authorities.

This is not the first time Taylor Farms has been connected to a foodborne illness investigation. The company was linked to a 2013 cyclosporiasis outbreak that sickened more than 600 people across roughly two dozen states, with many of those illnesses concentrated in Iowa and Nebraska among people who had eaten at other restaurant chains. That outbreak was eventually traced to a salad mix produced at a Taylor Farms processing facility in Mexico. The company has also been connected to a more recent E. coli outbreak tied to sliced onions in 2024.

Taylor Farms supplies grocery stores and restaurants across the country, and it remains unclear exactly how many of its products or locations may ultimately be tied to the current outbreak. Health officials have said the investigation remains active and that additional details, including formal confirmation of the outbreak’s source, are expected as testing and interviews continue in the coming days.

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FUNDAMENTALS

Spot gold gained 0.5% to $3,988.57 per ounce by 0103 GMT, having touched its lowest since July 1 earlier in the session. U.S. gold ‌futures for ⁠August ⁠delivery were steady at $3,992.70.

Iran and the United States exchanged intensifying fire on Thursday in a week-long escalation that has largely unravelled last month’s truce.

Oil prices have jumped about 12% so far this week as the escalating U.S.-Iran conflict stoked supply concerns.

Non-yielding gold typically struggles when interest rates are high because investors favour investments that offer better returns. The metal is down over 3% ⁠for the ‌week so far.

Live Events

Dallas Federal Reserve President Lorie Logan became the first of Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh’s new colleagues to call publicly for ⁠a rate hike.
Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson also suggested he would be open to raising rates if there is no near-term improvement in inflation.
Inflation is proving persistent across a broad range of goods and services, and remains the focus of monetary policy given a stable labour market, Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid said.
The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits fell last week.

U.S. retail ‌sales increased marginally in June as lower gasoline prices weighed on receipts at service stations.

China can stabilise economic growth this year by accelerating already-budgeted national infrastructure investment projects, ⁠economists and one government adviser said, reducing the likelihood of large-scale fiscal stimulus.

Britain on Thursday targeted what it said were illicit gold and finance networks fuelling Sudan’s war, imposing sanctions on 11 individuals and entities.

Elsewhere, spot silver gained 0.2% to $55.60 per ounce, platinum eased 0.1% to $1,616.10 and palladium rose 0.4% to $1,254.62. All three metals were headed for a weekly loss.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0701 China Total Social Financing Jun

0701 China M2 Money Supply YY Jun

0702 China New Yuan Loans Jun

1230 US Housing Starts Number Jun

1230 US Import Prices YY Jun

1315 US Industrial Production MM Jun

1400 US U Mich Sentiment Prelim Jul