Ructions in the Middle East, as Iran-US tensions rose, caused a slight dip in the Australian share market on Friday, although stronger-than-expected profit results still resulted in a second weekly rise.
By the close of trade, the ASX 200 index had fallen 4.8 points to 9081.40 points, which still represented a 1.8% rise for the week.
War fears were buoyed when US President Trump put a time limit on negotiations, saying chances of a nuclear deal with Iran would be limited to “10 to 15 days, pretty much”.
Energy stocks rise on higher oil
That put a rocket under the price of oil which hit its highest level since August as traders worried about supply shortages should a conflict happen soon.
Inevitably, that led to some price rises in the energy sector, with Woodside Energy (ASX: WDS) shares up 1.2% to $27.43 and Beach Energy shares (ASX: BPT) adding 0.9% to $1.14.
Going against the trend were Santos shares (ASX: STO), which fell 0.9% to $6.94.
The price fall coincided with news Santos had signed an agreement to supply 20 petajoules of gas annually over 10 years to help transform Whyalla Steelworks into a green iron facility.
Tech shares continue AI software slide
While oil and gas stocks were positive, there was plenty of weakness around with technology stocks continuing to slide on fears that software companies will be disrupted by AI.
This led to a 3.8% fall in the share price of WiseTech Global (ASX: WTC) to $47.10.
Also lower were Xero shares (ASX: XRO), down 3.7% to $77.54, while Megaport shares (ASX: MP1) fell a hefty 11.8% to $9.65 after their guidance for the fiscal year was lower than the market expected.
Positive earnings season
Overall, analysts have been pleasantly surprised by the unfolding profits season, with profit upgrades for around a quarter of companies outdoing downgrades.
A good example of that trend was big insurer QBE (ASX: QBE), with its shares up 7.1% to $21.48 after the company announced a 21% rise in full-year net profit to $US2.16 billion.
It was a quality result, with premium income and investment returns showing stronger-than-expected improvement.
Guzman falls below float price
Heading in the opposite direction were shares in Guzman y Gomez (ASX: GYG) which continued to explore territory well below its float price of $22 a share.
The shares fell a thumping 13.9% to their lowest close on record of $17.53 after announcing lower-than-expected sales and a big loss in the United States.
There were a couple of companies that rose on good news with shipbuilder Austal (ASX: ASB) shares up 5.5% to $6.30 after it was awarded a $4 billion contract to build eight landing craft heavy vessels for the Australian Defence Force.
Shares in Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX: TLX) were also up 14.5% to $10.45 after it released a group revenue guide of $US950-$US970 million which was well ahead of expectations.
Inghams profits chicken feed
There was some bad news elsewhere with shares in Inghams Group (ASX: ING) falling 13.5% to $2.11 after the poultry producer cut its full-year profit forecast to $180 to $200 million after a sharp decline in earnings.
Shares in the world’s biggest gold producer Newmont (ASX: NEM) lost 4.9% to $167.60 after it said it expected output to fall about 10% this year due to planned upgrades at several mines.
Alliance Aviation shares (ASX: AQZ) slumped 16.1% to 75¢ after it revealed that it needed to renegotiate an unprofitable contract with a major airline, which analysts said is likely to be Qantas.
Alliance reported a net loss of $105.8 million for the first half of 2026.
The Week Ahead
Once again future interest rates will feature prominently in the coming week with the inflation figures out on Wednesday.
Most expectations are around a 0.4% rise in the headline consumer price index which would lead to a slight fall in the annual rate to 3.7% which would still leave room for another interest rate rise.
Some economists have pencilled in another official rate rise by May but any weakness in the inflation data could see any further rate rises put on the backburner.
Once again, continuing local profit results will be very important in moving individual share prices around with some big companies reporting.
Big supermarket results out
The list includes oil and gas giant Woodside, the AI-challenged software company WiseTech, the two grocery giants Woolworths and Coles, and a host of others including Lendlease, Ampol, Perpetual, NIB Holdings, Reece, Adairs, McMillan Shakespeare, Woodside Energy, Nine Entertainment, Scentre, Nanosonics, Fortescue, Domino’s Pizza, Qantas, Star Entertainment, and TPG Telecom.
Earnings season also continues in the US, with the big result being NVIDIA’s fourth quarter, which will be a good indicator of how AI is progressing through the global economy.
The other US result to watch out for will be Berkshire Hathaway, which will feature the first solo outing for chief executive Greg Abel since the departure of investing legend Warren Buffett.
