Monday 26th October 2026
Daily Market Update: 26 October 2026
Banks and retailers offset a slump in miners
The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO) finished flat on Friday, edging up 2 points to 8,795.2 as four of the 11 sectors closed lower. Consumer discretionary led the gains, rising 2.57%, with Wesfarmers Limited (ASX: WES) up 3.76%, Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN) up 3.22% and JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) up 2.19%. Financials added 2.21%, led by Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), up 4.35%, National Australia Bank Limited (ASX: NAB), up 3.25%, Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX: WBC), up 3.11%, and ANZ Group Holdings Limited (ASX: ANZ), up 0.88%. The materials sector was the heaviest drag, falling 3.85% as lower gold, copper, silver and lithium prices weighed on the major miners: BHP Group Limited (ASX: BHP) fell 3.64%, Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) 2.68% and South32 Limited (ASX: S32) 5.28%.
Earnings updates drive sharp swings in Zip and Temple & Webster
Temple & Webster Group Limited (ASX: TPW) jumped 33.4% following a trading update, while Zip Co Limited (ASX: ZIP) slumped 29.5% after higher loss rates and a US fraud incident dented its profit. Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) eased 4.3% despite record September-quarter lithium sales, and Rio Tinto slipped 2.7% after flagging $1.9 billion to develop a bauxite project in Queensland. Whitehaven Coal Limited (ASX: WHC) rose 3.4% on a 22% year-on-year lift in September-quarter coal production, and EVT Limited (ASX: EVT) gained 1.7% as quarterly earnings climbed 17% despite the weakest Thredbo snow season in more than four decades.
Wall Street slips as oil and AI-debt fears weigh on tech
US equities closed lower on Friday, with the S&P 500 (INDEXSP: .INX) down 0.5%, the Nasdaq flat and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX: .DJI) off 653 points, as surging oil prices on escalating Middle East tensions pressured stocks and bonds and stoked inflation concerns ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s coming rate decision. Financials retreated — Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) fell 2.4% and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) 1.5% — while American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) dropped 3.7% despite beating earnings, announcing plans to cut 5% of its global workforce. Large-cap technology names also slipped, with Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) each down around 1%, as concerns over AI-infrastructure debt weighed on the sector.
| Australian Indices | Daily % | Weekly % | 1 Month % | 3 Month % | 1 Year % |
| ASX 200 | 0.0 | -0.1 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| Financials | 1.7 | 1.8 | 4.3 | -0.6 | 1.7 |
| Resources | -3.2 | -3.7 | -8.1 | -2.0 | 18.9 |
| Information Technology | -0.2 | -0.6 | 1.8 | -0.7 | -31.1 |
| Global Indices | Daily % | Weekly % | 1 Month % | 3 Month % | 1 Year % |
| US 500 | -0.5 | -0.5 | 0.0 | 3.2 | 5.6 |
| Europe | -0.6 | -2.2 | -1.4 | -2.0 | 1.3 |
| Japan | -1.1 | -1.9 | -0.9 | 2.0 | 11.3 |
| China top 50 | 1.1 | -6.0 | -6.8 | -8.9 | -25.2 |
| India top 50 | 0.6 | -2.4 | -1.5 | -2.4 | -21.5 |
| Fixed Interest | Daily % | Weekly % | 1 Month % | 3 Month % | 1 Year % |
| Australian Treasury Bond | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 0.3 | -1.2 |
| Australian Corporate Bond | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | -0.7 |
| US Treasury | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.4 | -0.1 | -0.9 |
| Cash | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 4.2 |
| Commodities & Crypto | Daily % | Weekly % | 1 Month % | 3 Month % | 1 Year % |
| Gold | -2.0 | -3.7 | -4.9 | -0.5 | -8.7 |
| Silver | -4.1 | -3.8 | -13.9 | -5.6 | 7.4 |
| Crude Oil | 1.5 | 0.5 | 9.2 | 15.6 | 110.5 |
| Bitcoin | -1.4 | -1.6 | -3.4 | 24.3 | -31.9 |
