ASX 200 report: 2 July 2026

The ASX 200 trades flat at 8722 as of 3:30 pm AEST.

ASX 200 recovers after early sell-off as Wall Street weakness weighs

The ASX 200 was crunched on the open today, falling 66 points (-0.76%) to a three-week low of 8656.20 before fresh buying – likely driven by the start of the new financial year – entered the market and helped it claw back all of its early losses.

The initial sell-off came after a rough night on Wall Street for technology stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) tumbling 6.27%. That move spilled over into Asian equity markets, with the Korean stock market diving nearly 7% at the open, giving back a small slice of last financial year's 180% surge.

In today's economic news, Australia recorded a trade deficit of A$3.0 billion in May, swinging from an A$1.4 billion surplus in April. Exports drove the deterioration, with gold exports the largest drag, down 35% month-on-month (MoM), while iron ore exports also softened. Goods imports rose 2.6% month-on-month, led by stronger imports of capital goods (+8.2%) and consumption goods (+7.9%), pointing to resilient domestic demand.

ASX 200 sectors

Consumer discretionary sector

The consumer discretionary sector endured a third day of profit-taking after its 24% rally from the mid-May low into Tuesday's high. 

• Temple & Webster dropped 6.98% to $5.60

• Harvey Norman fell 3.44% to $4.63 

• Guzman y Gomez lost 3.12% to $20.64

• Wesfarmers slipped 3.70% to $87.17 after a US investment bank downgraded the company from Neutral to Sell.

Energy sector

Crude oil extended its slide, falling 0.70% to a fresh cycle low of $67.56 in Asian trade. This saw the ASX 200 energy sector snap a four-day winning streak. 

• Karoon Energy dipped 2.82% to $1.38

• Ampol squandered 1.95% to $1.26

• Santos declined 1.53% to $7.08 

• Beach Energy lost 1.18% to $0.84.

Financials sector

The big banks, battered yesterday, found buyers today. 

• NAB jumped 3.31% to $38.21 

• Westpac lifted 1.70% to $35.28

• Macquarie gained 1.31% to $250.43

• ANZ climbed 0.55% to $34.66 

• CBA edged 0.37% higher to $161.32.

Health care sector

The ASX 200 health care sector offered support as it closes in on a seventh straight week of gains – although it still has a long way to go before erasing last financial year's heavy losses. 

• ResMed lifted 3.06% to $29.28

• Pro Medicus gained 1.55% to $206.01 

• Cochlear rose 0.36% to $118.90.

Materials sector

Gold climbed 0.80% today to $4062 ahead of tonight's critical United States (US) non-farm payrolls report, which comes just before the 4 July long weekend. 

• Ora Banda jumped 7.35% to $1.10

• Catalyst Metals rose 4.16% to $5.01 

• Resolute Mining lifted 4.05% to $0.96.

It has been a mixed day for the iron ore giants despite iron ore futures rising 0.74% to US$98.25 on the Singapore Exchange. 

• Mineral Resources gained 1.77% to $64.32 

• Rio Tinto edged 0.11% higher to $170.98

• Fortescue slipped 0.75% to $19.09 

• BHP fell 0.48% to $59.63 after lodging an application to restart the Cerro Colorado copper mine in northern Chile.

Technology sector

Nevertheless, the tech shakeout was enough to weigh on local information technology (IT) names: 

• NEXTDC dropped 5.09% to $13.90

• Megaport fell 3.35% to $20.08 

• WiseTech declined 2.2% to $32.16.

• Objective Corporation jumped 13.56% to $7.67, recovering almost half of the approximately 35% it lost yesterday after the Department of Defence declined to renew a long-standing contract.

ASX 200 technical analysis

The rejection from the mid-June high of 8983.8 has seen the ASX 200 remain confined to the broad 9000 - 8500 trading range it has occupied over the past 13 weeks.

Looking ahead, we see scope for the ASX 200 to continue trading sideways within this range for a few more weeks while remaining open-minded as to which direction the eventual breakout will take.

ASX 200 daily char

• Source: TradingView. The figures stated are as of 2 July 2026. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. This report does not contain, and is not to be taken as containing, any financial product advice or financial product recommendation.