SYDNEY, June 18, 2026, 04:01 (AEST)
- ANZ finished Wednesday at A$35.05, gaining 0.69%. Shares hit A$35.15 earlier in the day.
- S&P/ASX 200 ended up 0.5% at 8,966.30, the strongest close since April 15. Banks were also up 0.5%.
- The RBA kept its cash rate steady at 4.35% but warned that inflation is still running too high and left the door open for another hike.
ANZ Group Holdings rose Wednesday, following gains across Australian banks. Investors bought back into risk assets after worries over oil supply eased and the Reserve Bank of Australia kept rates steady.
Shares ended at A$35.05, up 24 cents, or 0.69%. Volume came in around 3.37 million. The stock moved between A$34.57 and A$35.15 for the session. That’s below the 52-week high of A$41.00, but above the A$27.85 low.
Australian cash equities finished trading before the announcement. ASX regular hours are just before 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Sydney, ending with a closing auction.
S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.5% to end at 8,966.30, the highest since April 15. Gains in miners and banks drove the benchmark after a reported U.S.-Iran interim deal lowered worries about oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz. “The recent rally still has life,” said Hebe Chen, market analyst at Vantage Markets. The Business Times
ANZ is caught between two things in markets right now: high rates help margins, but those rates can hit credit growth and push up bad loans. The RBA kept its cash rate at 4.35% on Tuesday, holding steady after three hikes this year. That benchmark rate impacts ANZ’s loan and deposit pricing.
Commonwealth Bank picked up 1.13%. Westpac dropped 0.53%, and National Australia Bank slipped 0.58%, market data showed. ANZ’s market cap was close to A$105.65 billion.
There wasn’t much in company headlines. Investors kept tracking ANZ after its May half-year update. The bank posted statutory profit of A$3.65 billion and cash profit at A$3.78 billion. Cash profit, which is not an IFRS metric, removes non-core items to give a look at the lender’s underlying earnings.
ANZ Chief Executive Nuno Matos said at the time the bank’s “transformation is running at pace.” The bank also reported an 11.6% cash return on tangible equity and a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 12.39%. ANZ
ANZ shareholders are getting close to the interim dividend payout. The bank said it plans to pay an 83 Australian cent interim dividend, 75% franked, on July 1. Franking gives shareholders certain Australian tax credits on the dividend.
The rate pause might not last long. The RBA said inflation is still too high and it could hike the cash rate again if needed, while ANZ has upped its collective provisions due to possible Middle East-linked economic stress. Higher rates help bank margins for now, but can put pressure on borrowers and drag on loan demand.
