Boom year for ASX; Star under pressure again; free-to-air TV reigns
Published: June 30, 2025
Boom year for ASX; Star under pressure again; free-to-air TV reigns
News in brief
Energy Minister Chris Bowen has announced a review into gas market regulations following the release of an ACCC report suggesting that short term gas supply is sufficient, although further investment is needed for the longer term.
Gold is set to become Australia’s third-highest value export in the next year, overtaking metallurgical coal, and coming in behind iron ore and LNG. The surging price of the precious metal has increased the value of gold exports, according to a federal government report.
There are more challenges for The Star Group. Its Hong Kong investors have threatened to walk away from a deal for Brisbane’s new Queen’s Wharf casino and hotel complex – a move that would put the already struggling group under extreme financial pressure.
Netflix might be the country’s biggest streaming service, but free-to-air TV still reigns in Australia, accounting for 62 per cent of minutes watched on television.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said trade talks with the US have resumed after Canada rescinded its plan to tax American technology firms. US President Donald Trump over the weekend suspended trade talks with Canada over its plans to continue with its tax on technology firms, which he called “a direct and blatant attack on our country”.
Fear-o-meter
It was a boom financial year for the equity market, with the ASX200 closing up 10 per cent. What did we learn?
Financials remain the powerhouse of the ASX with the big four banks, led by Commonwealth, having good years. But can it continue?
The miners are forever reliant on commodity prices, and when the world economy is slowing, that’s bad news. Same deal with the energy companies.
There were strong performers thanks to strategy, rather than momentum. Telstra and Wesfarmers fit into that category. So too Aristocrat Leisure, Qantas and JB HiFi.
But if you really want to make money on the sharemarket, find a company that’s about to receive a takeover offer. Ship builder Austal and online property play Domain had great years on that basis. Equally good, find a business that merges with an unlisted company, and more than triples in size, just like Sigma Healthcare.
Who's talking today?
On the best and worst performers of FY25, the outlook for investors in FY26, and whether the era of US exceptionalism has come to an end:
"US exceptionalism is the idea that the US is singularly the best place to invest, live and be because it has the best demographics. It has the most arable land, they are self-sustaining from a fuel perspective. They've got...just incredible companies. And so it's the only place to be invested. And that has been the case since the global financial crisis. And the idea that it's ending is coming about because of its debt position at the moment. And because Trump's big, beautiful bill act is promoting even more debt, because that's the only way it can be funded, then people are saying, at some point, there's going to be a tipping point...where foreign lenders to the United States say, that's enough. We don't want your treasury bonds anymore.
And so people are starting to question whether or not the US is as exceptional as it once was and whether the US dollar is the only currency to be in. Now there's no alternative as a reserve currency. There's nowhere else you'd rather be. Some money has flown into the Commonwealth Bank. That's helped the Commonwealth bank go up. The alternatives that are showing resilience is gold and Bitcoin. And so I'm not advocating for either of those as a long-term investment, but the record and near record prices for both of those things is reflective of the reduction in the perception of US exceptionalism."
Greed-o-meter
| Rank | Company | Increase |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Austal | +152% |
| 2 | Regis Resources | +150% |
| 3 | Genesis Minerals | +145% |
| 4 | Sigma Healthcare | +135% |
| 5 | Temple & Webster | +127% |
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Taking a look at the top five gains on the ASX200 in FY25.
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Source: MarketIndex