Australian shares fell on Tuesday amid a broad market sell-off, even as Wall Street’s major benchmarks climbed to record highs overnight.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 24.60 points or 0.3% lower at 8,956.8, with ten of the eleven sectors ending in the red.
The downturn came despite the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hitting fresh record closes, rising 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively.
Consumer discretionary stocks led losses, with JB Hi-Fi down 1.5%, Aristocrat Leisure and Wesfarmers down 1.3% apiece, while Breville Group declined 4.5%.
Communication services were also weaker, as REA Group dropped 2.1%, Seek fell 1.4% and CAR Group slid 2.9%.
Among Financials, Commonwealth Bank dipped 0.4%, while ASX Limited fell 1.4% after the corporate regulator approved Cboe Australia’s application to become a listing market, a move expected to intensify competition for sharemarket floats.
Among individual movers, Rio Tinto reaffirmed its focus on Western Australia’s Pilbara region, unveiling a US$733 million (A$1.1 billion) iron ore mine expansion with Japanese partners.
Web Travel shares rose 2.5% after the hotel aggregator, spun out of Webjet, said it remained on track to deliver record EBITDA for fiscal 2026, boosting investor sentiment.
Defence technology firm DroneShield fell 3.7% after announcing an A$13 million investment to build a new research and development facility in Adelaide.
Meanwhile, Brisbane Broncos shares tumbled 16.4% as investors took profits following the club’s 26% surge on Monday after winning both the NRL and NRLW grand finals.
On the bond markets, yields were mixed, with the 10-year rate easing 0.1% to 4.396%, while the 2-year rate inched up 0.1% to 3.528%.
