Australian Stock Market Slides as US Tech Sell‑off, Telstra Outage and Gold Megamerger Dominate Headlines

Wall Street tech weakness pulled the S&P 500 and Nasdaq lower, prompting the Australian ASX 200 to slip about 20 points, roughly 0.2%, toward the 8,800‑point level. The decline follows notable drops by chipmaker SK Hynix and SpaceX, which posted its eighth loss in nine sessions.

In Australia, Telstra CEO Vicki Brady faces a Senate grilling over a recent network outage that left some customers unable to call emergency services, with compensation for affected users expected to be discussed. BHP also contended with fresh industrial action as about 50 high‑voltage workers in the Pilbara staged a 24‑hour strike, adding an estimated $50 million in damage and pushing BHP shares down 2%.

Meanwhile, the mining sector highlighted the year's first major gold megamerger, with Vault Minerals announcing a deal to combine with Genesis Minerals. The transaction, flagged as a significant consolidation in the Australian gold industry, was featured in a HotCopper Wire podcast alongside other market topics.