The ASX eked out small gains to kick off the week despite oil spiking higher on fresh US-Iran strikes and conflicting statements from each side on whether the Strait of Hormuz remains open to shipping. Six of 11 sectors finished in the red, with most support at the index level coming from the banks, while Telstra (TLS) +1.6% bounced back after last weeks outage.
- ASX 200: +2pts / 0.03% to 8808
- AUD/USD: 0.6925 / -0.42%
- Best sectors: Communications +0.89%, Consumer Discretionary +0.86%, Financials +0.67%
- Worst sectors: Information Technology -2.49%, Utilities -1.63%, Consumer Staples -0.91%
- Xero (ASX: XRO) -3.7% to $70.24 — fell after CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy sold $2.2m of shares last week to cover personal tax.
- ResMed (ASX: RMD) -5.2% to $28.57 — Citi downgraded to Neutral, cutting its price target to $34 on a ventilator-component remediation program expected to cut FY27 sales by ~US$220m.
- WiseTech Global -2% to $33.32 — tech was weak across the board
- Northern Star -2.83% to $19.90 and Evolution Mining -1.81% to $11.42 — gold miners fell as spot gold slipped in Asian trade.
- BHP +0.10% to $58.34 and Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) -0.28% to $164.03 — mixed day across resources
- Woodside Energy (ASX: WDS) +0.93% to $29.32 and Santos -0.26% to $7.60 — energy mixed despite the oil spike.
- Karoon Energy (ASX: KAR) +2.12% to $1.45 — restarted production from its PRA-2 well at the Bauna project after reconnecting the umbilical to the floating production vessel.
- Ampol (ASX: ALD) +4.17% to $36.75 — secured a new $400m delayed-draw subordinated notes facility backed by KKR’s private credit and insurance platforms.
- City Chic Collective +27.78% to 6.9c— stronger sales and near-doubling of FY26 earnings. Still a long way to go to reach $5.60 highs….
- OOh!media +4.07% to $1.535 — continuing takeover talks with three PE bidders (Pacific Equity Partners, I Squared Capital, Oaktree) after all three reaffirmed non-binding proposals; top offer remains $1.65/share.
- Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals -0.5% to $10.22 — Health Canada approved Scenesse for adults with erythropoietic protoporphyria.
- Kingsgate Consolidated -12.83% to $4.35 — flagged a major mechanical failure (ball mill trunnion bearings) forcing a shutdown of Plant 1 at Chatree; Plant 2 still operating, impact on FY guidance under review.
- Brent crude: +4.1% to US$79.12/bbl on fresh US strikes targeting Iran’s ability to disrupt Hormuz shipping.
- Gold: spot last down 1.5% to US$4058.18/oz (as much as -1.6% intraday to ~US$4050); down >20% since the Iran war started in late February.
- Iron ore: down 0.6% to $US98.70/mt
- Asian Markets: China -2.2%, Hong Kong -0.2% & Japan -2.4%
- Kospi: down ~6% w/ SK Hynix down as much as11% in Seoul & Samsung Electronics off ~ 7%.
- S&P 500 E-mini futures (US): -40.25 / -0.53%, Dow E-mini futures (US): -177.00 / -0.33%
