ASX rises after RBA rate cut, union slams Westpac job cut plans — as it happened

The Australian share market has ended 0.5% higher the day after the Reserve Bank cut interest rates for the second time this year, helped by a rally in the big banks.

The ASX 200 gained 44 points to 8,386 and the All Ordinaries gained 38 points to 8,573.

Financials advanced 0.7% with the Big Four rising between  0.2% to 1.5%.

Eight out of the 11 sectors finished the session in the green.

The Australian dollar shot up 0.5% against the greenback to 64.51 US cents.

The US dollar weakened as the selloff in long-term US Treasuries continued.

Senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya from Swissquote Bank said that traders remain pessimistic about the US dollar’s prospects for 2025 in FX markets.

“The one-year risk reversals—a gauge that reflects whether investors are hedging more with calls or puts—have dropped to the most negative level on record, according to Bloomberg,” she said in a note.

“This is notable because risk reversals have rarely turned sharply negative in the past.

“Investors typically don’t hedge against [US] dollar depreciation; historically, the greenback has attracted safe-haven flows during global market stress.

“But that relationship appears to be breaking down. If the [US] dollar is no longer seen as a reliable safe haven, then investors need to hedge FX risk when buying [US] dollar-denominated assets—even S&P 500 or Nasdaq stocks. That added demand for protection can in turn amplify pressure on the [US] dollar.”

Comparison site Canstar has crunched the numbers on how much you could save due to this rate cut.

On a $500,000 mortgage, monthly repayments would drop $76 to $3,164.

For a million-dollar home loan, repayments would reduce $152 to $6,328.

The Canstar estimates are based on an average variable rate for existing borrowers of 6.06 per cent, prior to Tuesday’s rate cut.

You can find out other loan sizes and potential savings in this explainer by Business Reporter Emily Stewart.

At least 30 lenders have announced they will be passing the interest rate cut on, in full, for variable home loan customers.

However, a number are yet to confirm whether they will be passing on the cut.

“Over the next couple of days, we expect the announcements to come from most of the lenders, but some can be slow to publicise their changes,” says Graham Cooke, head of consumer research at comparison site Finder.

Find out the names of the 30 lenders by clicking this article by Business Reporter Emily Stewart.

As I mentioned earlier, Telstra has raised prices on its mobile and phone plans by as much as 7%.

This includes increases like:

• Basic internet plan from $89 to $93 a month (+4.5%)
• Basic phone plan from $65 to $70 a month (+7%)

The telco also increased the prices on its cheaper subsidiary Belong earlier this week.

The prices increases represent rises far above the current inflation rate of annual 2.4%.

And it is well and above the specific inflation rate for communications productions, which is at a flat rate of zero annually, and was actually deflationary until recently. 

Interestingly, Telstra used to raise prices for some products only annually for customers in line with CPI.

Telstra says last year it told customers it is “moving away” from those CPI-linked price increases.

That came as inflation more broadly was actually coming down significantly in Australia.

Telstra says it no longer does pricing decisions annually.

Here’s some reasoning from Telstra’s representative on the issue about why these latest price increases are needed for the company’s bottom line.

Brad Whitcomb says they need the extra cash to invest into new services:

This includes increasing our mobile network investment by $800 million over the next four years to extend our leadership and deliver customers the most advanced, resilient and reliable mobile network in the country. Some customers will start to notice improvements to their speeds and overall experience from later this year.

Telstra announced bumper half-year profits earlier this year, with net profit up 7.1%. Its shareprice is currently up 0.4%.

James Hardie has reported a 9% decline in annual profit, driven by softer results in its Asia Pacific segment and a modest decrease in net sales from its North American segment.

Dublin-based James Hardie logged a 1% drop in annual net sales, as weaker volumes in North America and Asia Pacific outweighed gains from higher average selling prices across its three regions.

Its Asia Pacific fibre cement sales plunged 7% for the year, hit by lower volumes mainly due to the shutdown of its manufacturing and commercial operations in the Philippines.

The building materials supplier’s North America fibre cement sales slipped 1% for the year, as a 3% drop in volumes from market weakness outweighed gains from its annual price hike.

Gross margin for its North American segment, its largest, fell 2.2%, pressured by rising pulp and cement costs along with unfavourable production cost absorption.

Pulp and cement costs refer to two key raw materials used by the company, especially in its fibre cement products.

James Hardie projected a decline in market volumes for the segment in fiscal 2026, but said it expects net sales to grow modestly in the low single digits.

Shares dropped 6.8% to $35.86.

with Reuters

Shares of Mayne Pharma have fallen as much as 33.5% to $4.31, marking their biggest intraday percentage loss since early March 2009.

The stock hit its lowest level since November 22, 2024.

The pharmaceutical firm says US-based Cosette Pharmaceuticals initiated a review of its $672m acquisition, citing “material adverse change” in the Australian firm’s business and finances.

The company says Cosette’s claim triggers a mandatory 10-business-day consultation period to discuss the change in good faith.

It says the deal could collapse if significant negative outlook impacts the company’s financial health, business, or outlook.

About 3.3 million shares change hands versus the 30-day average of 879,126.

with Reuters

Australia’s biggest telco has been sending customers price increase notifications today. 

We’ve seen increases so far:

• Basic internet plan from $89 to $93 a month (+4.5%)
• Basic phone plan from $65 to $70 a month (+7%)

The telco also increased the prices on its cheaper subsidiary Belong earlier this week.

The prices increases represent rises above the current inflation rate of annual 2.4%. We’ve asked the company why.

It comes just days after increased scrutiny of Telstra’s services, after the owner of its rival Vodafone accused Telstra of putting out misleading and deceptive claims about its coverage for years.

You can read about that antenna coverage debacle in this excellent story by my colleague Rhiana Whitson.

Are you a Telstra customer? How you feeling? Send Rhiana an email on [email protected]

The Finance Sector Union (FSU) says it’s concerned over reports that Westpac is planning to cut 5 per cent of its workforce across the board, on top of hundreds of job cuts in the last year.

The union says it has not been consulted on any such proposal and has called for any plans for a 5 per cent staff cut across the board to be shelved and immediate talks to be held.

The FSU has reached out to Westpac to seek an urgent explanation and confirmation on exactly what its plans are.

Westpac has already made almost 1,000 job cuts over the past year, the most recent being 160 roles in the Tech and Business Wealth Division, and 190 roles from its Mortgage Operations, Westpac Institutional Banking and Customer Solutions.

“This is deeply disappointing, particularly as Westpac posted a net profit of $7 billion just last year,” FSU national president Wendy Streets says.

“Our members have worked hard to turn massive profits for Westpac over the years, they deserve to be rewarded and not have their jobs brutally cut for the sake of cost-savings and even bigger profits.”

There have been media reports that Westpac is on the verge of a mass sacking of staff, with the Financial Review suggesting more than 1,500 jobs are on the chopping block.

The ABC sought clarification from Westpac about its planned redundancies.

A Westpac spokesman replied: “Westpac is a major Australian employer, with more than 30,000 people across the country. In the last year we hired almost 5,000 people in Australia.

“We adjust the composition of our workforce according to our investment priorities.

“While we continue to invest in extra bankers and customer-facing roles, other programs and initiatives may need fewer resources.

“This means, from time to time, we make changes that may impact some roles and responsibilities as we actively manage costs and investment.

“As the skills and capabilities required in banking continue to evolve, so will our workforce.

“We try to keep as many employees as we can, through retraining and redeployment.

“For those who leave, we help them with tailored support and assistance with career transition,” the spokesman said.

Of course, if Westpac sees mass sackings as financially prudent, could this just be the tip of the iceberg for the financial sector.

It follows a reduction in the cash rate from the Reserve Bank yesterday and warnings the economy could slow further.

“The Board considered a severe downside scenario and noted that monetary policy is well placed to respond decisively to international developments if they were to have material implications for activity and inflation in Australia,” the statement by the Monetary Policy Board noted.

Total wages and salaries paid by employers were $104.8 billion in March 2025, up 5.8 per cent from $99.0 billion in March 2024, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

“The total wages and salaries paid by employers reached a series high of $104.8 billion in March 2025,” Sean Crick, the head of labour statistics from the ABS, says.

“Wages and salaries typically peak in March before falling in April, a seasonal pattern observed in previous years.

“Wages and salaries rose in March due to periodic bonuses paid within some industries, such as mining, wholesale trade and financial and insurance services.”

Prices current around 12:50pm AEST

Live updates from major ASX indices:

I read the Victorian budget papers yesterday, so that you wouldn’t have to.

It’s a hope-fuelled document that hides the hard decisions.

Already, we’ve discovered that public school students will be further impoverished (failing to meet the “full Gonski” levels of funding required) while independent and Catholic students get the full whack of cash.

This is despite a pre-election “deal” with the federal government to bridge the gap — Victoria secretly pushed the having-to-actually-pay-it part closer to 2030 without telling anyone, until a newspaper sniffed it out.

It’s one of the pinch points of a budget that’s locked into enormous infrastructure projects in a state addicted to population growth for tax revenue.

From our seat on the 46th floor of a Collins Street skyscraper, you can see the outlines of some of the big infrastructure projects that continue to soak up billions of taxpayer dollars, while gazing across a suburban expanse more than 100 kilometres from side to side.

The plan might work, but there’s a lot of finger-crossing and cuts before we get there. Here’s my take on it:

The Australian share market has risen, led by banks after the Reserve Bank cut interest rates for the second time this year.

The ASX 200 gained 0.9% to 8,421 points, by 12:00pm AEST.

On Tuesday, the RBA cut the official cash rate by a quarter of a percentage point, citing cooling inflation at home and a severe downside scenario for global trade from US tariffs, in a move that was fully priced in by markets since the levies were announced in April.

Investors still expect at least two more rate cuts this year to bring the cash rate in the 3.10%-3.35% range.

Financial stocks gained 1.5%, with the big four banks rising in the range of 1.1% to 2.1%.

Gold stocks rose 4.2%, tracking bullion prices higher as investors sought safe assets amid US fiscal uncertainty.

Evolution Mining, St Barbara and Northern Star Resources added 4.6%, 1.7% and 3.3%, respectively.

Energy stocks advanced 1.3% as oil rose on reports that Israel is preparing to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

Australia’s top gas producer, Woodside Energy, advanced 1.6%, while smaller rival Santos gained 1.3%.

Miners added nearly 1.5% as iron ore prices inched up amid resilient near-term demand.

with Reuters

Earlier we looked at the first ever release of gender pay gap data for government entitites.

To compare the private sector and public, lets use the median total remuneration figure, so using penalties and bonuses to give a broader picture of the ‘income’ picture.

In the private sector it’s 18.3%. In the public it’s 6.4%

But here are the outliers in the public service.

• ABC – 9.8%
• SBS – 1.9%
• Australian Federal Police – 12.2%
• Australian Hearings Services – 18.1%
• Australian Maritime Safety Authority – 30.4%

This means that the average woman working at AMSA earns 69.6 cents for every $1 that a man earns.

• APRA – 7.8%
• Civil Aviation Safety Authority – 30.9%
• Clean Energy Finance Corporation – 24.6%
• Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave Funding) Corporation – 31.7%
• CSIRO – 11.3%
• National Gallery of Australia – -7.3% (a negative gender pay gap)
• Reserve Bank of Australia – 11.5%
• Snowy Hydro Limited – 25.7%
• (The ‘corporate group of Snowy Hydro Limited is 38.4%)

Want to know more about the gender pay gap? Here’s a comprehensive article we put together when the private sector numbers were released earlier this year.

The industry group is one of those involved in the hearings by the FWC on minimum/AWARD wages, with it push for an annual rise of no more than 2.5% for the next year.

Its representative says small businesses need to balance higher wage costs for their staff with rising insolvency, tougher economic times and general instability.

“There are severe risks for the Australian economy,” they added, noting issues like the Trump tariff instability.

They also said it will take “years” for productivity changes to really take effect.

Crop chemicals supplier Nufarm is the worst performing stock on the benchmark index so far this morning, with shares plunging 25 per cent.

The company reported a near 40 per cent plunge in profit, to $29.8 million for its first half.

That result included the impact of a one-off benefit it had realised the same time a year ago, but the underlying net profit also fell, down 24 per cent.

Shareholders will not receive an interim dividend.

Nufarm said there was strong growth in earnings from crop protection.

“Following a challenging period, the industry moved to more normal levels of competition.

“All regions grew volumes and benefited from greater stability in active ingredient pricing which improved margins.”

Its seed technologies division (which includes developing sources of animal feed and bioenergy) reported a 71 per cent decline in underlying earnings.

It’s announced a review of the seed business, which could result in a sale. It’s engaged UBS to assist with the process and says no options have been ruled in or out, and there’s no certainty a transaction will result.

Ben Moxham of the ACTU is speaking to the Fair Work Commission currently, arguing that the highest raise to the minimum/AWARD wage put forward by an industry group (2.6%) could still see workers go backwards over a year.

The ACTU is lobbying for much higher rate at 4.5%.

“Australian Unions will argue the mostly part-time and lower-paid workers who will be impacted by the decision urgently need a 4.5 percent wage increase to make up for lost ground over the past five years of the inflation fight,” a press release also just sent to media said.

He also acknowledged a comment last year made last year to the FWC that pinning down how many people are actually on the minimum wage is “chasing unicorns”.

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Soaring house prices in Australia have created great wealth for some but are locking others out of home ownership and causing housing distress for many.

We want you to help inform our reporting on the issue by sharing your stories and experiences, especially about how it’s affecting you and your family.

Are you thinking about intergenerational living? Would you consider living with your parents?

Has the housing crisis made you reconsider when to have, or even having, children?

Do you think childcare, aged care and the housing crisis could all be addressed by thinking differently about how we live?

Share your story with ABC reporters here:

Housing was a huge focus of the election campaign, while the Albanese government’s previous pledge to build 1.2 million new homes over the next five years is already looking over-ambitious in its first year.

So, it’s perhaps no surprise that the re-elected Labor government has moved various aspects of housing together into a so-called “super portfolio” which will now sit within the broader Treasury bureaucracy.

Under new administrative orders, housing and homelessness policy will move out of Social Services, land and planning policy out of the conglomerate Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts portfolio, while construction policy and regulation will be taken out of Industry, Science and Resources.

So will putting virtually everything to do with housing under the economic boffins at Treasury improve housing supply?

The Housing Industry Association certainly thinks it will.

“This is a significant and long overdue step forward to deliver a nationally coordinated approach to housing,” writes its managing director Jocelyn Martin.

“The decision to put housing, infrastructure, planning, industry policy and the ABCB under the Treasury portfolio is a move the housing industry has long advocated for.

“It’s HIA’s strong belief this action will help cut red tape, lift productivity and ultimately improve housing outcomes for Australians by removing the current siloed and disjointed approach to addressing the major impediments to greater housing supply.”

Now, where can we find Sir Humphrey to run it…???

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