SYDNEY — Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 ended Tuesday's session in the red, closing down 44.7 points, or 0.51%, to 8,778.7, as hawkish minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's June board meeting and a sharp selloff in gold miners overshadowed what was otherwise a solid end to the financial year for the country's share market.

The broader All Ordinaries index fell 40.7 points, or 0.45%, to 8,986.2. Six of the ASX's 11 sectors closed lower on the day, with the index finishing the June quarter up 3.5% and ending the 2025-26 financial year up approximately 3% in price terms, or roughly 6.3% on a total return basis including dividends, a respectable but modest outcome given the year's competing headwinds.

The most consequential development during the session was the release of the Reserve Bank of Australia's minutes from its June 16-17 board meeting. The minutes revealed that board members discussed two primary risks bearing on the outlook for future rate decisions: the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and what the RBA described as "persistently weak productivity growth" in the domestic economy. The minutes signaled that the board had not ruled out further cash rate increases even after raising rates three times earlier in 2026, though the language suggested the hurdle for near-term additional tightening had risen.

"The board will remain focused on its mandate to deliver price stability and full employment and will do what it considers necessary to achieve that outcome, including increasing the cash........

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