When Dr. Copper gets sick

The S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.72% to 8,635 points as it opened the last full trading week of 2025. 

AI bubble fears sent Wall Street lower, with these losses reverberating locally this Monday, in addition to weaknesses in the miners.

With copper giving back recent gains, and iron ore prices also lower, diversified miner BHP dropped by 2.9%. Fortescue also shed 1%, on the day it flagged plans to fully acquire a Peruvian copper miner. 

Meanwhile the ASX stock itself was in the red, with ASIC imposing a $150-million capital charge on the stock market operator.

In other company news, Woolworths was slightly lower as it said it will defend a class action regarding staff underpayments. 

Some share price gains were to be found in the defence space however. Counter-drone technology company Electro Optic System signed a $120 million deal in South Korea, and its share price skyrocketed by 30%.

Meanwhile DroneShield and Austal topped the charts of the S&P/ASX 200. 

Looking ahead, PMIs data are due tomorrow, along with the Westpac consumer confidence index.