ASX closes higher, buoyed by Iran War ceasefire; DroneShield tanks 14% on CEO change
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The news: The Australian sharemarket finished higher after US President Donald Trump announced a two-week suspension of US military strikes on Iran in return for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The benchmark ASX 200 index rose 2.56% to 8,951.8 with eight of the 11 sectoral indices in positive territory.
The tech sector (+7.3%) surged higher with WiseTech Global (+10.7%), Xero (+6.5%), Technology One (+6.8%), NextDC (+4.8%), Codan (+6.9%) and Life360 (+11.9%) finishing higher.
The energy sector (+7.2%) was the worst performer as WTI Crude Oil prices slumped 15.3% and Brent Crude fell 14%. Woodside (-10.5%), Santos (-4.1%), Karoon Energy (-13.1%), Beach Energy (-7.3%), Yancoal (-9.2%), Viva Energy (-8.3%), Ampol (-3.9%) and Whitehaven Coal (-5.3%) finished lower.
Biggest movers:
- Gold miners — Miners tracked gains in the haven asset’s spot price, which was up around 2.6%. Bellevue Gold (+18.9%) was the best performing gold miner after reporting its March quarterly production update and flagged its contract to meet FY26 guidance. Ora Banda Mining (+14.7%) and Greatland Resources (+14%) surged.
- Guzman y Gomez (+12.4%) — Surge continued after reporting a 20% increase in Q3 network sales and reaffirming full-year guidance on Tuesday.
- DroneShield (-13.5%) — CEO Oleg Vornik stepped down after 11 years in the role and chair Peter James will retire from the board after the company’s next annual general meeting in late-May.
Other news:
- Pro Medicus (+8.3%) — Signed a $23 million contract with the University of Maryland Medical System in the US.
- Flight Centre Travel Group (+7.3%) — Entered a binding agreement to sell its 47% interest in bicycle company Pedal Group to a consortium associated with Flight Centre founder and CEO Graham Turner.
- Perenti (+7%) — Extended its existing contract with gold miner Regis Resources for work at its Duketon operations in Western Australia. It expects to receive $180 million in additional contract value for the 12-month extension.
- Magellan Financial Group (+4%) — Posted a drop of $2.4 billion in assets under management for the three months to March 2026.
- oOh!Media (+3.7%) — Announced the retirement of Tony Faure after nearly 12 years on the board, including more than eight years as chair.
What’s ahead:
- The US Federal Reserve’s federal open market committee will publish meeting minutes for its last meeting in March, after which it held interest rates steady, on Thursday at 4:00am AEST.
