Sydney, June 18, 2026, 02:09 AEST
- NAB lost 0.58% to finish at A$37.67 on Wednesday. The S&P/ASX 200 ended up 0.54%.
- The RBA kept rates at 4.35%, leaving bank margins, mortgage demand and credit risk in the spotlight.
- NAB redeemed its Capital Notes 3 hybrid security as planned on June 17.
National Australia Bank Ltd. shares slipped Wednesday, trailing the Australian market. NAB finished down 0.58% at A$37.67 after trading between A$37.59 and A$38.35. Commonwealth Bank added 1.13%, ANZ climbed 0.69%, while Westpac fell 0.53%.
ASX was shut overnight when this was published, but not because of a holiday. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sydney time on business days, and June 18 isn’t on the 2026 holiday list for the exchange.
Sectors mostly pushed higher on Wednesday, but underperformance caught attention. The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 48.60 points, or 0.54%, at 8,966.30. Eight of 11 sectors finished higher. Easing oil prices gave support to risk appetite.
Banks are getting a boost from rates. On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia left its cash rate steady at 4.35%. Governor Michele Bullock didn’t rule out more hikes. Abhijit Surya, senior economist at Capital Economics, called the move a “hawkish hold” and said he expects the tightening cycle still has “a little further to run.” ABC News
NAB handed investors a new capital event, not an earnings trigger. The bank wrapped up the redemption of its NAB Capital Notes 3 hybrid, known as NABPF, paying holders A$100 per note plus a last A$1.4438 distribution. NAB said the securities were not deposit accounts.
Earnings quality is still the question. In May, NAB posted first-half cash earnings of A$2.64 billion, short of the A$2.93 billion forecast from Visible Alpha. Business lending was up more than 10%. Net interest margin climbed to 1.81%. CEO Andrew Irvine told analysts, “It’s very hard to forecast in these times.” Reuters
Competition is still centered on housing. Reuters said last month mortgages make up about 60% of the big four banks’ credit books, led by Commonwealth Bank, then Westpac, NAB and ANZ. K2 Asset Management’s George Boubouras called it “an over-reliance on domestic housing for Aussie banks.” Reuters
But there’s still an easy bear case. The RBA says inflation remains too high and left the door open to another cash rate hike if needed; another move might boost some lending revenue but also slow credit and raise bad debt risk. That leaves NAB exposed when trading starts Thursday, with eyes on bond yields, housing numbers and the next arrears update.
