Daily Market Update: 29 July 2026

ASX rallies as rate-cut bets rise
Australian shares climbed on Tuesday as traders scaled back expectations of an August rate rise after Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock flagged a softer than expected housing market. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) rose 53.80 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 8947.80, its highest close in six weeks, with 10 of 11 sectors higher. Bullock’s comments, alongside a pullback in oil below $US90 a barrel, saw the market price a 21 per cent chance of a rate rise next month, down from 36 per cent last week. Financials led the gains, with Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) up 1.5 per cent to $178.78, Westpac (ASX: WBC) up 0.9 per cent, ANZ (ASX: ANZ) up 0.9 per cent and National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) up 0.7 per cent. Consumer discretionary was the top sector, led by Wesfarmers (ASX: WES) up 2.1 per cent, Eagers Automotive (ASX: APE) up 4.6 per cent and Light & Wonder (ASX: LNW) up 6.5 per cent, while energy names such as Woodside (ASX: WDS) and Santos (ASX: STO) also gained despite the softer oil price. Materials was the lone decliner, with BHP (ASX: BHP) down 1.2 per cent and Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) down 2.5 per cent as iron ore slipped below $US100 a tonne, and gold miners Newmont (ASX: NEM) and Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) also fell.

Stocks in focus
Viva Energy (ASX: VEA) surged 8.6 per cent after guiding to first-half earnings of between $770 million and $780 million, more than double the prior year, on stronger refining margins from the Iran conflict. DroneShield (ASX: DRO) plunged 13.2 per cent to its lowest level since December after warning first-half gross margin would fall to 60 per cent from 65 per cent. Web Travel Group (ASX: WEB) jumped 17.1 per cent on a $90 million buyback and better than expected earnings guidance of $80 million to $86 million. Harvey Norman (ASX: HVN) rose 2.3 per cent even after being fined $35 million by the Federal Court over a misleading advertising campaign run with Latitude Financial (ASX: LFS), and Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) slipped 0.1 per cent as it confirmed roughly 900,000 customers were affected by last week’s data breach.

US chip selloff weighs on Nasdaq
US indices were mixed as chipmakers extended their selloff even as earnings and falling oil prices supported broader sentiment. The S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) gained 0.2 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: DJI) rose 537 points, while the Nasdaq 100 (NASDAQ: NDX) fell 1 per cent. Concerns over slowing AI infrastructure spending hit compute and memory names, with Micron (NASDAQ: MU) down 8.8 per cent, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) down 8.1 per cent, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) down 5.9 per cent and Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) down 14.2 per cent, pressure compounded by a strong Shanghai IPO from China’s CXMT stoking competition fears. Health and consumer staples outperformed, with Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) up 5 per cent on an earnings and revenue beat and raised full-year guidance, Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) up 1.9 per cent, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) up 3.1 per cent and Visa (NYSE: V) up 1.1 per cent ahead of its earnings release, while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) rose 1.1 per cent and Meta (NASDAQ: META) was little changed ahead of Wednesday’s earnings.