S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) materials shares outperformed last week, rising 4.06%, as the miners recovered from the prior week's losses.
Mining stocks have become Australia's proxy for the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
We don't have a big tech sector heavily involved in the AI build-out like the US market does.
But we have all the metals and minerals needed to build the world's data centres and power battery storage systems.
So, when US AI stocks get sold off, we see a sell-off in tech and copper and critical minerals miners.
That's what happened the week before last when ASX 200 tech stocks fell 5.11%, and materials dropped 7.69%.
Last week, US AI stocks recovered over a three-day run early in the week, and so did our mining and tech companies.
Meanwhile, the consumer discretionary and staples sectors took a hit.
Hotter-than-expected inflation data led the market to price in an 80% chance of a fifth interest rate hike for 2026 on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the benchmark ASX 200 rose 1.28% to finish at 8,908.1 points.
Seven of the 11 market sectors finished in the green last week.
Let's recap.
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ASX 200 materials and mining shares led the market
The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price jumped 4.56% to close at $57.56 on Friday.
The Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN) share price rose 4.08% to $44.09.
Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) shares lifted 0.71% to $147.31 last week.
The Fortescue Ltd (ASX: FMG) share price finished steady at $14.27.
South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) shares increased 5.08% to $4.34.
ASX 200 copper pure-play Sandfire Resources Ltd (ASX: SFR) soared 9.16% to $20.14 per share.
Lithium shares struggled last week amid sluggish commodity prices.
The PLS Group Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price edged 0.76% higher to $2.64.
The Liontown Ltd (ASX: LTR) share price fell 3.13% to 62 cents.
How about ASX gold shares?
The Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) share price ascended 4.59% to $25.27.
The Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) share price rose 3.98% to $11.76.
Newmont Corporation CDI (ASX: NEM) shares lifted 0.7% to $156.12.
The gold price has fallen 7% in 2026 and broke below US$4,000 per ounce on Friday.
ASX 200 market sector snapshot
Here's how the 11 market sectors stacked up last week, according to CommSec data.
Over the five trading days:
| S&P/ASX 200 market sector | Change last week |
| Materials (ASX: XMJ) | 4.06% |
| A-REIT (ASX: XPJ) | 3.69% |
| Energy (ASX: XEJ) | 1.39% |
| Information Technology (ASX: XIJ) | 1.29% |
| Financials (ASX: XFJ) | 1.05% |
| Healthcare (ASX: XHJ) | 0.66% |
| Industrials (ASX: XNJ) | 0.38% |
| Communication (ASX: XTJ) | (0.68%) |
| Utilities (ASX: XUJ) | (0.73%) |
| Consumer Discretionary (ASX: XDJ) | (2.35%) |
| Consumer Staples (ASX: XSJ) | (5.13%) |
