The Australian sharemarket finished lower on Tuesday as investors monitored developments in the Middle East amid dampened investor sentiment after the United States launched strikes on Iranian targets.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 34.2 points, or 0.4%, to close at 8,657.8, with eight of the benchmark’s 11 sectors ending the session in negative territory.
Utilities led the market lower, with Origin Energy dropping 2.3%, AGL Energy falling 2.8% and Mercury NZ declining 2.6%.
Infratil slid 4.9% despite reporting an 11% increase in annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and fair value adjustments to NZ$989 million (A$809.61 million) for the 12 months to March 31, driven by growth in its data centre business CDC and U.S. renewable energy platform Longroad Energy.
Energy stocks also weakened as coal miners gave back gains made in the previous session following a mine explosion in China.
Whitehaven Coal lost 3.7% while Yancoal Australia declined 3.3%.
Among oil and gas producers, Woodside Energy edged down 0.1% and Beach Energy fell 1.8%.
Santos lost 0.9% after flagging a $300 million reduction in capital expenditure between 2027 and 2030, with upstream investment to be prioritised in the Moomba Central fields area while investment in the broader Cooper Basin would be deprioritised.
The Financial sector also weighed on the market, with the major banks ending moderately lower. Commonwealth Bank slipped 0.2%, National Australia Bank fell 0.8%, Westpac declined 0.4% and ANZ eased 0.3%.
ASX Ltd was the session’s worst-performing major stock, plunging 13.2% in its biggest one-day decline since 2000 after warning that its cost base and capital expenditure outlook for the 2026-27 financial year would rise by around 20% as the company invests further in technology infrastructure.
In company news, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was among the strongest performers on the benchmark after reporting a 24% increase in full-year net profit after tax and lifting its total dividend by 22%.
Bond yields also moved higher during the session, with the Australian 10-year government bond yield rising 0.9% to 4.916%, while the two-year yield gained 0.3% to 4.593%.
