scroll

First Up

UPDATED 12/09/2026 10:04

trade now

The ASX 200 fell 2.9% last week, extending the month’s decline to 3.7% – we did warn members that September is the historically weakest month of the year! For reference, the worst-performing September of the last decade was 2022, when bond yields also surged higher, and that year the index closed down 7.3%. Escalating tensions around the Strait of Hormuz have pushed oil above US$100/bbl, fuelling inflation concerns and driving many global bond yields to multi-decade highs, while weighing heavily on risk assets in the process. With 10 out of 11 sectors ending the week lower, there were few places to hide, with rate-sensitive stocks feeling the brunt of the selling.

Tech (-12%), Materials (-6%), Consumer Discretionary (-6%), and Real Estate (-4%) have been the four worst-performing sectors MTD.

The best-performing stocks last week were almost entirely from the energy sector as the US-Iran War went from bad to worse. Conversely, the losers were a mixture of tech and lithium-based stocks that struggled under the weight of rising bond yields &/or plunging lithium prices.

Winners: Ingenia Communities (ASX: INA) +9%, Minerals 260 (ASX: MI6) +8%, Karoon Energy (ASX: KAR) +5%, Megaport (ASX: MP1) +5%, Viva Energy (ASX: VEA) +5%, Santos (ASX: STO) +5%, New Hope (ASX: NHC) +4%, and Woodside (ASX: WDS) +3%.

Losers: Nine Entertainment (AX: NEC) -16%, Xero Ltd (ASX: XRO) -16%, WiseTech Global (ASX: WTC) -13%, Westgold Resources (ASX: WGX) -13%, Zip Co. (ASX: ZIP) -13%, Liontown (ASX: LTR) -13%, Paladin Energy -12%, and PLS Group (ASX: PLS) -11%.

Weekly snapshot: Last week saw the ASX live up to its September hoodoo plumbing lows not seen since early July:

The ASX 200 started the week off in quiet fashion with selling in tech stocks offset by strength in coal stocks and heavyweight miners.
Tuesday demonstrated the local market’s weak underbelly as rising oil prices, softening consumer sentiment and increasingly hawkish RBA expectations sent the bourse 1% lower.
The index came under the cosh on Thursday, again dropping 1% as rising oil prices and bond yields weighed on local stocks, in particular the banks and tech.
Friday saw the ASX fall another 0.8% as investors piled out of the miners after Reuters reported that the White House had not yet made a decision on refined copper tariffs.

On the geopolitical front, the coming week will see markets keep a close eye on the US-Iran conflict and its knock-on impact on oil prices. It’s also set to be a big week on the macro front with the Fed and BOJ interest rate decisions, plus the US Jobs Report on Thursday, all likely to generate ongoing volatility for local stocks.

Overseas markets bounced into the weekend, helped by a ~3% pullback in oil and a largely in-line US CPI inflation print. In Europe, the German DAX and French CAC both closed +0.8% higher. In the US, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ performed slightly better, both closing up +0.9%.