That's it for another day on the blog, thanks for your company.

The ASX 200 enjoyed its best day in three weeks, with perhaps the most surprising performance being ANZ's 3.2% jump on announcing 14% slide in cash profits, which was at best in-line with consensus forecasts and result some analysts described as "messy".

It was not such a great day for former ANZ boss Shayne Elliott who forfeited $13.5 million in bonuses on the back of number of expensive regulatory "issues" the bank had with ASIC.

Gold jumped back above $US4,000/ounce sparking a rally in local miners, while lithium, uranium and rare earth miners also jumped.

Looking ahead, Wall Street looks likely to benefit from the news that the US senate had passed a bill to end the federal government shutdown.

S&P 500 futures are up 0.7%, Nasdaq futures point to a 1.2% gain.

However, there are still a few more hurdles, including White House approval, before furloughed workers can get back on the tools.

We'll be back bright and early tomorrow morning with all the developments to set you up for another captivating day viewed through the eyes of the ABC business unit.

Missing you already, until next time ...

The ASX 200 enjoyed a strong day, gaining across the session to close 0.75% higher at 8,836 points.

It was the index's best day in three weeks.

The broad-based industrial sector was a standout, supported by solid rises in Monadelphous (+11.1%) and Austal (+5.2%), while speciality miners, the tech and financial sectors were also in demand.

The supermarkets were largely out of favour, while property was dragged down by sector heavyweight Goodman Group slipping 1.3% and Centuria (-2.2%).

The miners were a mixed bag, with the big iron ore producers underperforming (honourable mention to Rio Tinto, up 0.6%) after another drop in their spot prices out of China on Friday.

Gold miners were uniformly back in town as their spot price jumped back above $US4,000/ounce.

Lithium producers did even better with Liontown Resources up almost 13%.

Uranium miners were also in the money, with the key players up between 6-to-10%.

Banks and insurers were generally higher. ANZ (+3.2%) led the "big four" retail banks after posting full-year results this morning, while QBE insurance gained 1.3% on a broker upgrade.

Macquarie Group (+0.6%) retraced some of its sharp 5% sell off on Friday.

Tech stocks made late gains after a slow start.

By sector, non-cyclical consumer stocks (aka the supermarkets) were the weakest.

The top movers on the ASX 200 include Liontown Resources, mining services outfit Monadelphous on strong results and positive guidance, as well as a host of uranium miners.

Dyno Nobel (+7.9%) also did well after a well-received full-year result.

The ASX bottom movers include property settlements platform PEXA (-4.3%) and property group, Centuria Capital (-2.2%).

• ASX 200: +0.75% to 8,836 points (live values below)
• Australian dollar: +0.5% to 65.23 US cents
• Asia: Nikkei +1.0%, Hang Seng +0.6%, Shanghai -0.2%
• Wall Street (Friday): S&P500 +0.1%, Dow +0.2%, Nasdaq -0.2%
• Europe (Friday): Dax -0.7%, FTSE -0.6%, Eurostoxx -0.6%
• Spot gold: +1.4% to $US4,053/ounce
• Brent crude: +0.7% to $US 64.08/barrel
• Iron ore: flat to $US102.60/tonne
• Bitcoin: +1.6% at $US106,184

Prices current around 4:15pm AEDT

Live updates on the major ASX indices:

Having a bit of DroneShield moment on the blog at the moment.

Eagle-eyed reader Craig points out Nasdaq futures are up a stonking 1.2%, which is correct, not the 0.2% decline I tapped out.

Thanks Craig.

The big news in the US at the moment is that the Senate has advanced a bill aimed at ending the 40-day (so far) federal government shutdown.

Reaction on Wall Street has been mixed, with S&P 500 and Dow futures pointing to solid gains tonight, while the Nasdaq looks like enduring another retreat.

At 3:50pm (AEDT):

• S&P 500 futures: +0.7%
• Dow futures: +0.2%
• Nasdaq futures: -0.3%

Hi Andy, Suncorp received a mention in the "September Half 2025 Significant Items" summary along with the likes of staff redundancies (after-tax charge of $414 million), the ASIC settlement (after-tax charge of $261 million) and the PT Panin impairment (after-tax charge of $285 million).

ANZ had already flagged last month plans to complete the integration of Suncorp Bank by June 2027 to "accelerate value creation for shareholders".

In its accounts, ANZ recognised an after-tax charge of $68 million in relation to the Suncorp migration ... to the bank, sort of like the change you or I would lose under the couch, and it hasn't cracked a mention in the analyst reports that have come across the blog's desk today. 

The Australian dollar is off on a bit of a frolic this afternoon, jollied along by hopes the US federal government shutdown may soon be over, as well as fairly "hawkish" comments from RBA deputy governor Andrew Hauser.

The Aussie is currently up 0.4% to 65.16 US cents (at 3:20pm AEDT).

This follows its 0.8% slide last week.

"It does look as though the Aussie is taking heart from the apparent end to the US political stalemate that is boosting US equity futures in anticipation of a rebound in the US economy," ITC senior analyst Sean Callow said.

"RBA's Hauser may have also helped the Aussie at the margin, with his comments reinforcing the hawkish lean of the November meeting."

In a speech in Sydney, Hauser noted the starting point for Australia's economic recovery last year was the tightest in more than 40 years, suggesting little urgency to ease policy soon.

He later said financial conditions are closer to neutral rates now.

"This was a further hawkish evolution of the RBA's characterisation at the November (Statement on Monetary Policy)," NAB senior economist Taylor Nugent wrote in a note.

"NAB expects the RBA to be firmly on hold before a final cut in May 2026, but risks are skewed to a 3.6% terminal cash rate for the cycle."

With Reuters

Reserve Bank deputy governor Andrew Hauser was in conversation with UBS chief economist George Tharenou at the investment bank's conference in Sydney today.

Now Mr Tharenou and his economics team have released a note with their take on the chat. The headline? Hauser was on the hawkish side, UBS concludes.

"This was consistent with the UBS view that the RBA will hold the cash rate unchanged ahead, with a terminal rate of 3.6%," the note read.

"Looking forward, we think the RBA's assessment is increasingly that the outlook for inflation depends on the balance of supply and demand. In economic terms — the 'output gap', or 'spare capacity'…

"We discussed various scenarios, but Hauser cited 'credence' to the hawkish scenario, 'fearing that the economy may find itself boxed in by its own capacity constraints, like a racehorse trapped against the course fence, unable to surge forward. On that view, there may be little scope for demand growth to rise further without adding to inflationary pressures, and hence there may be little room for further policy easing.'"

It was shaping up as another heady day for ASX 200 newbie and investor sweetheart DroneShield, bouncing out of the blocks with shares up 9% on news of $7.6 million dollars' worth of new contracts with the US government.

A couple of hours later, DroneShield sheepishly withdrew the statement, noting the same contracts had previously been announced in September.

DroneShield duly plummeted back to earth and is now down 0.5% in the day. Clunk.

In its follow-up statement to the ASX, DroneShield said the mistake was "inadvertent" and the company "is taking steps to prevent this error occurring again".

Former ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott has paid a hefty price for the bank's run-in with ASIC over its mistreatment of customers and misconduct relating to trading in Australian government bonds.

The ANZ's annual report released with its result this morning show Mr Elliott was "not eligible" for his long-term bonus payment of $13.49 million.

Mr Elliot left the bank in May and was replaced by Nuno Matos.

The ANZ board's chair of the people and culture committee, Holly Kramer, noted in the executive remuneration report that the bank was "mindful" of shareholder feedback in the strike it received against its 2024 remuneration report.

Along with Mr Elliott, three former executives, including the former head of the Australian retail banking operations, Maile Carnegie, saw their share bonuses, which were due to vest later this year, forfeited.

In Ms Carnegie's case, the cost was $4.4 million.

"The board determined that some or all equity due to vest in November/December 2025 would be forfeited to ensure overall consequences were appropriate and proportionate," Ms Kramer said.

The total penalties ANZ racked up with ASIC over four different matters came in at $240 million — the highest in Australian corporate history — including the "unconscionable conduct" on a major commonwealth bond deal, and misconduct affecting about 65,000 customers.

UBS bank analyst John Storey described the senior executives forfeiting parts of variable compensation as "a positive on cultural change" at the bank.