ASX finishes worst day since April 2025 as oil price surges on Iran war supply disruption
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The news: The Australian sharemarket faced its worst day since April 2025 as crude prices surged amid supply fears from a prolonged Iran war.
The benchmark ASX 200 index fell 2.85% to 8,599, with 10 of the 11 sectoral indices in negative territory.
Only the energy sector (+1.7%) finished in the green as both WTI Crude Oil and Brent Crude prices increased by nearly 25%.
Gas giants Woodside (+2%) and Santos (+2.4%) finished higher, as did juniors Karoon Energy (+10.2%) and Beach Energy (1.3%). Coal producers Yancoal (+13.3%), Whitehaven Corporation (+4.4%) and New Hope Corporation (+2.8%) also finished higher.
Biggest movers:
- Dyno Nobel (-9.7%) — Agreed to sell its Phosphate Hill fertiliser plant in northwest Queensland to Mayfair Australia Corporation subsidiary Ryowa II GPS. The company is also susceptible to gas prices as it is a key input to explosives production.
- DigiCo (-7.4%) — Informed the market that CEO Michael Juniper will take “a period of extended personal leave” to spend time with his family and work through a personal matter.
Other news:
- Humm Group (-2.2%) — Expects a draft confidentiality deed to be settled with Credit Corp “in the next few days”, providing the suitor with access to Humm’s due diligence data room.
- Pro Medicus (-0.9%) — Signed two five-year contract renewals valued at $40 million collectively.
- Nanosonics (+3.8%) — Secured a 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration for the first round of an expanded endoscope indications for its CORIS system.
What’s ahead:
- Westpac will release Australian consumer sentiment data for March on Tuesday at 10:30am AEDT.
- NAB will release Australian business confidence data for February on Tuesday at 11:30am AEDT.
