SYDNEY, March 25, 2026, 04:20 AEDT
- The ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 8,379 on Tuesday after surrendering most of an early rally of about 1.5%. 1
- Mining shares climbed 2.8%, but Santos fell 2.6% after it paused Darwin LNG exports. 1
- Oil stayed above $100 a barrel and rising diesel costs kept investors wary. 1
Australian shares snapped a three-day losing streak on Tuesday, with the S&P/ASX 200 ending up 0.2% at 8,379 after giving back most of a sharp early rally. Miners did much of the lifting. 1
The move mattered less for its size than for what it said about the mood. The index jumped after U.S. President Donald Trump postponed fresh strikes on Iranian infrastructure, then ran out of steam as Tehran denied talks with Washington and oil stayed high. 1
The mining sector rose 2.8%, with Genesis Minerals, PLS Group and Liontown among the strongest performers, each rising more than 6%. The bounce helped steady a benchmark that had fallen 0.7% on Monday, when miners and banks dragged it lower. 1
The recovery was uneven. Santos, Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, slid 2.6% to A$7.84, lagging the broader energy sub-index, down 0.4%, after the company said it had temporarily shut its Darwin liquefied natural gas, or LNG, plant, interrupting exports from a recently restarted supply chain. 2
Santos said the stoppage was linked to equipment replacement on the BW Opal offshore vessel that feeds Darwin LNG. It left its 2026 production outlook unchanged at 101 million to 111 million barrels of oil equivalent. 2
That matters beyond one stock. Australia is one of the world’s largest LNG exporters and a key supplier to Asian buyers, while around 4:30 p.m. AEDT Brent crude was about $103.7 a barrel and the Australian dollar had slipped to 69.61 U.S. cents, ABC market data showed. 2
For miners, fuel is now part of the earnings story. Fortescue metals and operations chief executive Dino Otranto told Reuters that “A 10-cent change in the price of diesel impacts us by $70 million,” and said every 10-cent move costs “the top four” miners about half a billion U.S. dollars. That helps explain why investors keep circling back to BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue whenever the oil shock shifts. 3
But the rebound could still go the other way. Oliver Pursche, senior vice president and adviser at Wealthspire Advisors, said investors were watching oil, but “the bigger risk is commodity-related inflation” if the conflict drags on and keeps pressure on trade and food costs. 4
The caution is not hard to explain. Reuters reported earlier this month that about A$130 billion had been wiped from Australian stocks in a week as the Middle East conflict widened. Tuesday’s gain clawed back only a small part of that damage. 5
