Sydney, March 4, 2026, 04:45 AEDT — Premarket
- SPI 200 futures slipped going into the Sydney session, following a steep fall for the ASX 200 on Tuesday.
- Miners took the biggest hit in the sell-off, with renewed worries over oil-driven inflation weighing. Energy stocks, however, fared better.
- Australia’s quarterly GDP numbers are due Wednesday, and traders are on edge ahead of the release.
Australian shares looked poised for a weaker open Wednesday, as SPI 200 futures hovered near 8,907 points — the main contract traders use for hedging the benchmark. 1
The S&P/ASX 200 dropped 123 points, a 1.34% slide to 9,077.30 in the last session as big-cap stocks weighed on the index and caution set the tone. Life360 tumbled 16.26%, while Pro Medicus shed 8.77%, both sitting near the bottom of the leaderboard. 2
The drop matters—investors are contending with the usual suspects: pricier energy, rate jitters, and geopolitics. Now that local earnings season is in the rearview, risk appetite can shift fast on not much at all.
Miners bore the losses Tuesday, dropping 3.1%, with gold stocks off 3%, according to Reuters. “With reporting season out the way, the market is focused on Middle East tensions,” said Craig Sidney, senior investment adviser at Shaw and Partners. 3
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock, during remarks in Sydney, cautioned that inflation could pivot rapidly if geopolitical events escalate, pressing the need for policy flexibility. The cash rate remains at 3.85%, unchanged since the quarter-point increase in February. Bullock described policy as “well positioned” for any required response. 4
Global markets showed little conviction. By late morning in the U.S., the S&P 500 shed roughly 1.6% as traders grappled with rising oil and fresh inflation worries, triggered after Tehran issued threats against ships in the Strait of Hormuz. “The main concern is (oil prices) goes to over $100 a barrel,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth. 5
Certain stocks managed to buck the broader downturn. Magellan Financial Group surged 21.9%, posting its sharpest gain in almost twenty years, after the fund manager announced a A$1.62 billion deal to fully acquire investment bank Barrenjoey. “The combined entity has the depth and strength to develop as a genuine investment bank,” said Romano Sala Tenna, portfolio manager at Katana Asset Management. 6
But everything could shift on just a couple of numbers or headlines. If GDP disappoints, expect fresh chatter about slowing growth; a stronger report, though, would keep rate jitters front and center. Oil, unpredictable as ever, continues to loom over all of it.
At 11:30 a.m. AEDT, eyes turn to the Australian Bureau of Statistics as it drops the national accounts, most notably the GDP read for the December quarter. 7
