The ASX was higher on Friday in mid-afternoon trade, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.2% at 8630.9 as the market looked to close out the week around 0.2% higher. Trading remained volatile, shaped by shifting expectations for interest rates after mixed domestic data and concerns that persistent inflation may force the RBA to hold or even raise rates. Tech stocks supported the index, led by a sharp jump in NextDC following its OpenAI partnership, while Life360 and WiseTech also advanced. Miners added momentum as gold hovered near a six-week high, boosting Newmont, Evolution and Northern Star, though Rio Tinto fell as copper prices eased back from record levels. The major banks recovered from early losses, each trading about 0.5% higher.
Across the week, sentiment swung between resilience in commodities and ongoing uncertainty over the RBA’s next move. Thursday’s session saw the ASX close 0.3% higher as record copper prices lifted materials stocks and traders fully priced out any chance of a rate cut this cycle. Mid-week GDP data showing softer-than-expected growth gave the market a brief reprieve but did little to change expectations that the next policy shift may be upward. Earlier in the week, energy and mining names helped stabilise trade against global rate jitters and sharp bitcoin weakness, while Monday’s session was marred by an ASX outage and broad selling in banks and defensives. Despite the choppy backdrop, the index is on track to finish the week slightly in the green.
In Friday’s company news,
Sparc Technologies achieves sustained hydrogen production at photocatalytic pilot plant
Sparc Technologies (ASX:SPN) announced a major milestone at its Roseworthy pilot plant, where Sparc Hydrogen, its joint venture with Fortescue and the University of Adelaide, has achieved sustained green hydrogen generation via photocatalytic water splitting (PWS) under concentrated solar conditions. This marks the transition from commissioning to operational testing. The facility will benchmark reactor performance across varying solar intensities, temperatures and pressures, and is positioned as a globally significant R&D site for next-generation hydrogen production that avoids electrolysers and relies solely on sunlight, water and photocatalyst materials
Algorae validates AI platform with successful independent drug-synergy study
Algorae Pharmaceuticals (ASX:1AI) reported successful independent validation of its AlgoraeOS v1 drug-combination prediction platform, completed by the Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. The study tested 21 AI-selected drugs in combination with CBD across four cancer cell lines, producing ~10,000 data points and confirming that AlgoraeOS can correctly prioritise synergistic combinations while excluding most non-synergistic pairs. These results de-risk the technology and support its use in future drug discovery programs. In parallel, the company has launched AlgoraeOS v2, a major upgrade trained on 5.5m inhibition records and outperforming state-of-the-art benchmarks, with in-silico predictions due in December 2025.
Rimfire begins drilling program to advance Rabbit Trap scandium project
Rimfire Pacific Mining (ASX:RIM) has commenced a fully funded 30-hole air-core drilling program at the 100%-owned Rabbit Trap Scandium Project in NSW, targeting three previously undrilled magnetic anomalies and aiming to expand the footprint of the Malamute Scandium Prospect. Historical drilling at Malamute has already shown strong scandium grades, including 18m at 217ppm and 10m at 270ppm, with mineralisation open east–west across a 400m × 500m area. Success in this program could support a maiden mineral resource estimate. Assay results are expected in late January 2026.
