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SpaceX’s (NASDAQ: SPCX) much-heralded IPO hit the boards on Friday, rewarding the lucky initial buyers with a +19% gain, and turning its founder, Elon Musk, into the world’s first trillionaire. At the same time, the record-breaking IPO created a US$2.2 trillion behemoth, making it one of the largest companies in the world despite investors still debating its path to sustainable profitability.
After a shaky start to the week, the ASX200 finished with a flourish, rallying 2% on Friday to end the week up 1.4% as risk appetite returned. Following several sessions dominated by geopolitical headlines, the ASX delivered its strongest weekly gain in two months as markets embraced the prospect of a US-Iran peace deal and the accompanying pullback in oil prices, which reversed more than US$10/barrel from their weekly highs.
The gains were driven primarily by rate-sensitive sectors, with Consumer Staples (+9%), Consumer Discretionary (+8%), Healthcare (+7%) and Real Estate (+5%) leading the charge.
The winners’ enclosure was also dominated by underperformers as investors went bargain hunting into EOFY, while the laggards had a distinctly gold and uranium flavour.
The ASX finished the week with its strongest session since April, surging almost 2% on the day after US President Donald Trump suggested a deal with Iran could be signed as soon as this weekend. The move wasn’t confined to a handful of stocks with around 85% of ASX 200 companies closing higher on the session.
For the 3rd consecutive session, the ASX200 opened on its lows only to defy the bears and news headlines to drive higher. If it weren’t for the “Big Four Banks” tumbling ~2%, the index would have closed up on the day, with the four pillars taking more than 40-points off an index that only slipped 20-points.
The ASX spent much of today proving a point that has become increasingly apparent over recent weeks – investors are prepared to look through the headlines. Fresh US strikes on Iranian targets overnight initially sparked another risk-off move across global markets, sending oil higher, pushing the Aussie dollar to a two-month low and weighing on growth stocks.
The ASX 200 enjoyed another solid performance on Wednesday, trading lower in the first hour before again pushing up throughout the session to finish the day up +0.6%. The local bourse has delivered consecutive strong intra-day performances, despite headwinds from overseas markets, with US S&P futures trending lower while we pushed higher, daring us to question if the ASX has finally regained its mojo?
The ASX pushed higher today despite another round of US-Iran hostilities overnight, with investors continuing to look through the latest developments in the Middle East and instead focusing on the broader trajectory of negotiations.
The ASX showed impressive resilience on Tuesday, reversing early triple-digit losses to finish down just 0.21%, in a near carbon copy of the previous week’s price action. The broader market was healthier than the index implied, with fewer than 40% of stocks on the main board closing lower. However, the heavyweight miners continued to cause a significant drag, with BHP alone effectively accounting for all of the ASX200’s decline. As June 30 approaches, some profit-taking and performance reversion are beginning to emerge across one of the market’s standout-performing sectors.
The ASX spent most of today digging itself out of an early hole, with the market initially rattled by Friday night’s strong US payrolls report before steadily recovering through the session. After falling sharply at the open, buyers gradually returned and by the close the index had trimmed the bulk of its losses – the market remains willing to buy weakness despite ongoing uncertainty around rates.
We read an interesting article in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) over the weekend, by Macquarie’s Viktor Shvets, around how to “play broken bubbly markets”. It was a good read by the well-respected Global Strategist, but the paragraph that caught our attention was around liquidity, one of the reasons MM has remained bullish towards global equities in 2026 – remember most major indices have enjoyed a solid albeit volatile year.
