Sydney, June 24, 2026, 03:06 AEST
S&P/ASX 200 slips for fourth session as tech, miners drag
Australian shares fell for the fourth session in a row Tuesday, with tech and mining names down enough to wipe out moves higher in the big banks. The S&P/ASX 200 dropped 29.1 points, or 0.33%, to 8,787. The index ranged from 8,777.8 to 8,849.9.
Benchmark shares ended about 2% lower than where they closed on June 17. Gains at the open fizzled as traders pulled back from commodity producers and high-priced tech ahead of new Australian inflation numbers.
May consumer price data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics is due out at 11:30 a.m. AEST Wednesday. Inflation was at 4.2% in April. The trimmed mean, which cuts out big price swings, came in at 3.4%, above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target of 2%-3%.
Technology stocks led losses, down 4%. TechnologyOne slid 7.1%. Xero finished 5.3% lower. WiseTech Global lost 4.4%, while NEXTDC was off 1.7%. WiseTech said an investigation reported in the local press is about founder Richard White personally, not the company itself.
Financials helped balance things out as Westpac, National Australia Bank, and ANZ each rose between 1% and 1.4%. “Markets appear to have taken some comfort from the government’s revised tax package,” IG analyst Tony Sycamore said. News
Nasdaq tech and chip stocks came under pressure as AI spending tied to fresh debt worried investors, who also ramped up bets on more Fed rate hikes. The trade is “highly concentrated and flow-driven,” making it sensitive to minor sentiment moves, Baird’s Ross Mayfield said. Reuters
Commodity markets didn’t move much. Spot gold slid 1.2% to $4,138.79 an ounce as the U.S. dollar hit a one-year high. Brent crude lost over 1% as talks between the U.S. and Iran made headway. Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at StoneX, said precious metals are watching the Federal Reserve more than the Middle East.
All Ordinaries dipped 0.48% to close at 8,988.3. The Australian dollar fell as well, down to around 69.64 U.S. cents from 70.04 late Monday. Traders pointed to a firmer U.S. dollar and weaker appetite for risk.
Wednesday’s CPI print could quickly shift the market’s direction. A hot read would reignite worries about another RBA hike, adding more pressure to tech, property and consumer names. If the number comes in soft, banks and other domestic stocks could get a lift as rate hike risk eases. The RBA kept its cash rate at 4.35% last week but warned another hike is possible; Harry Murphy Cruise at Oxford Economics Australia said earlier rises in energy and shipping costs are still feeding through to consumers.
