The Australian sharemarket fell more than expected at the open on Wednesday after a stunning rally in precious metals slammed into a wall with gold posting its largest one-day fall in 12 years.

The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 58 points, or 0.6% to 9036.80 at 10.20am AEST, after it closed at a record on Tuesday, buoyed by Australia’s critical minerals deal with US President Donald Trump.

Materials were the weakest of the seven sectors down on Wednesday. Heavyweight BHP slumped 1.2%, while Newmont dived 9.4%, Bellevue Gold by 11.3% and Ramelius Resources by 12.2%. It came as spot gold prices slumped as much as 6.3%, the biggest decline in more than a dozen years, while spot silver dropped as much as 8.7%.

Woodside rallied 4% after it posted quarterly production of 50.8 million barrels of oil equivalent (552 Mboe/d) for the third quarter, up 1% from Q2, and raised its full-year guidance to 192–197 MMboe from 188-195MMboe.

Financials were higher as Pinnacle Investment Management rocketed 5.9% on plans to acquire up to a 13% stake in Advantage Partners, Japan’s largest independent private markets platform, as part of its international expansion strategy. The deal includes an initial 5% interest for $92 million, with an option to acquire a further 8% over three years at a similar valuation.

The big four banks were all slightly up in early trade.

In company news, 4DMedical soared 6.9% as it secured its first commercial deployment of CT:VQ at Stanford University, marking the start of its US rollout following FDA clearance of the respiratory imaging technology.

Online luxury retailer Cettire rose by 2.1% as revenue outside the US grew 18% year-on-year in the September quarter with the average order value higher at $907. Overall sales revenue shrunk 3% to $150.3 million amid US tariffs.

Homewares group Adairs fell 1% as it forecasted group sales for the first half to now be between $319.5 million and $331.5 million, slightly below prior guidance of $324.5 million to $336.5 million.

Air New Zealand fell 1% as it said it expected to post a pre-tax loss of between $NZ30 million and $NZ55 million for the first half of the 2026 financial year, citing weaker-than-expected revenue and rising costs.