BHP Shares Test A$60 Milestone To Extend Market Leading Position

BHP Group shares (ASX:BHP) have moved to fresh all-time highs today, breaching the psychologically significant A$60 level for the first time as the mining giant’s copper-driven transformation attracts strong buying interest across domestic and international markets.

The BHP share price touched an intraday high of A$60.23 before settling near A$59.80 into the close, marking a 30.63% gain for the year and extending its one-month gain to 10%. The move represents a decisive break above what had been a stubborn resistance zone, with the A$60 threshold now emerging as the new battleground for bulls and bears after A$55 successfully transitioned from ceiling to floor over recent weeks.

The rally follows BHP’s February half-year results, which revealed underlying profit growth of roughly 22% year-on-year, comfortably exceeding consensus forecasts. Critically, copper overtook iron ore as the company’s largest earnings contributor for the first time, a structural shift that has reframed market perception of BHP from a China-leveraged iron ore play into a beneficiary of global electrification and energy transition themes. The company’s US$4.3 billion streaming arrangement helped unlock capital for copper expansion while preserving dividend capacity, a balance that has appealed to both growth and income-focused portfolios.

Is $60 The New $55 For BHP Shares?

Technical momentum has reinforced the fundamental narrative. BHP bounced off the 50-day simple moving average at the end of April, and has accelerated since, a pattern typically associated with established uptrends and confirmation of support. Rate-of-change indicators now flash positive double-digit readings, and the stock trades above both short- and medium-term moving averages in offshore markets. The progression from support around A$48.50 through resistance at A$52.50 and A$54 earlier this year laid the groundwork for the assault on A$55, which subsequently flipped to support and enabled the current test of A$60.

Yet the advance has not been without interruption. In March, BHP suffered a sharp 6% single-session decline to around A$49.61 as broader materials stocks slumped amid inflation concerns and risk-off sentiment. That episode underscored the miner’s continued sensitivity to macro shocks and commodity price volatility, even as its earnings mix evolves. Iron ore division earnings also disappointed relative to expectations during the latest results, with weaker pricing and subdued Chinese demand offsetting record production volumes, a reminder that BHP remains materially exposed to the world’s second-largest economy despite copper’s ascendancy.

From a positioning perspective, BHP’s status as Australia’s largest company by market cap, having now pushed above A$300B at $304.32B today has attracted steady index and sector fund inflows, providing a structural bid beneath the shares. The stock’s 30%-plus year-to-date gain and 10% one-month surge into a major round number also raise natural questions about near-term exhaustion and the potential for profit-taking.

The immediate focus now centres on whether A$60 can hold as support on any pullback, mirroring the role A$55 has played in recent sessions.

A decisive weekly close above A$60 would likely cement the level as a new reference point for trend-followers and option traders, opening a path toward the mid-60s if copper fundamentals and broader risk appetite cooperate. On the other hand, a failure to sustain closes above A$60 in the coming days, particularly if accompanied by deteriorating commodity prices or renewed China growth concerns, could trigger a mean-reversion back to test support. For now, momentum remains firmly with the bulls, but the magnitude of the rally and proximity to a key psychological threshold mean the next few sessions will prove critical in determining whether A$60 truly becomes the new A$55, or whether it marks a temporary ceiling that invites consolidation.