Sydney — April 28, 2026, 03:02 AEST
Australian stocks slipped again Monday, chalking up a fifth consecutive loss. The S&P/ASX 200 shed 20.1 points, or 0.23%, closing at 8,766.4. Pressure from utilities, energy, and bank names weighed on the index. The All Ordinaries dipped too, off 15.6 points, or 0.17%, to finish at 8,990.8.
No new trades hit the local equity screens at the dateline; the ASX cash market was shut for its usual overnight pause. Standard hours: 09:59:45 a.m. through 4 p.m. Sydney time. So, whatever moved Monday by the close stands as the last actionable snapshot ahead of Tuesday’s open.
Inflation has pushed its way back into the spotlight. The Australian consumer price index lands Wednesday, just ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s May 5 policy meeting. Analyst Tony Sycamore at IG flagged expectations for headline CPI to rise 4.8% year-on-year. For May, markets have about 20 basis points of tightening priced in—each basis point equals one-hundredth of a percent.
The Strait of Hormuz remains a key flashpoint, keeping both energy markets and inflation jitters on edge. ASX 200 dropped to 8,729.6 early, according to Morningstar and AAP, but clawed back some ground as news broke that Iran might move to reopen the strait. Sycamore told AAP that Iran had “offered an olive branch of sorts.” Morningstar
Losses cut across most sectors, though not equally. Utilities slid 2.81%. Energy names were down 1.87%. Financials didn’t escape, dropping 0.47%. Only materials and health care managed to finish up. According to MarketIndex, nine out of 11 sectors ended lower, with 122 stocks in the ASX 200 closing in the red.
Origin Energy dragged on the market, tumbling as much as 4.5% after third-quarter revenue from its Australia Pacific LNG stake slumped 17% year-on-year, Reuters reported. The company also lowered its FY26 earnings forecast for Octopus Energy. Chief Executive Frank Calabria pointed to lagging oil-price effects on APLNG export contracts, noting those impacts probably won’t show up until FY27.
Materials managed to prop up the index for a bit. BHP and Rio Tinto both ended in the green, defying the wider slide, while gains among gold and lithium stocks pulled the sector out of its early slump. Still, that didn’t turn the tide.
Atlas Arteria stood out as the biggest mover among individual stocks. IFM Global Infrastructure Fund, according to Reuters, put forward an A$4.75-per-share bid for the shares it doesn’t yet hold, pegging the toll road company’s value at A$6.89 billion. Shares in Atlas Arteria surged 13.4% to A$4.91. Vantage Markets’ Hebe Chen described the conflict-driven price gap as a “rare window” for picking up a long-term asset. Reuters
Banks remained on the back foot. According to Morningstar and AAP, financials pared some initial declines but still ended the session down 0.5%. The sector saw losses across the board, with a modest uptick in NAB doing little to help. Higher rates may boost margins for lenders, though the tradeoff is more strain on borrowers.
Local shares bucked the offshore trend. ABC noted the ASX finished in the red even after a robust Friday rally on Wall Street. MarketIndex highlighted new peaks for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. But here, banks, energy, and health-care jitters kept the global tech surge at bay—at least for now.
Paul Bloxham at HSBC sounded the alarm in a note picked up by ABC, calling Australia “one of the least well-placed developed economies” as the inflation surge hits. According to Bloxham, a downturn could be necessary to drag inflation closer to the RBA’s target. ABC News
This trade isn’t locked in. If the Strait of Hormuz looks likely to reopen, oil prices and inflation could back off; but a stronger CPI or another diplomatic snag would put the ASX back in the crosshairs, with rising fuel costs and renewed rate-hike chatter.
Tuesday brings the question: can materials still balance out pressure on banks, utilities, and energy? The real focus lands on Wednesday’s CPI reading.
