ASX 200 report:
28 July 2026

The Australia 200 trades 40 points (0.46%) higher at 8934 at 3.40pm AEST.

ASX 200 benefits as Asian technology stocks tumble

The ASX 200 is on track for its fifth day of gains in the past six sessions and its highest daily close in almost six weeks, continuing to benefit from its position as a lower-beta safe haven while high-beta technology (tech) markets in Asia continue to be savaged.

Best illustrating the pressure in tech-heavy regional markets, Korea’s KOSPI fell more than 10.20% today and is now down over 55% from its mid-June high. The chances of a Korean-style Global Financial Crisis (GFC) are rising by the day.

The sharp decline in Korea (and Japan to a lesser extent) followed another messy session for chipmakers on Wall Street, where chip stocks were taken to the woodshed after a weekend report that NVIDIA is in talks to provide a roughly $250 billion backstop for a major OpenAI data-centre project, intensifying concerns about circular financing in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.

The pressure on Asian equity markets was compounded by the spectacular debut of Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT, which closed 465% higher and provided further evidence that China is making real progress in building a domestic memory chip industry, and becoming a more credible competitive threat to Korean giants Samsung and SK Hynix.

With stormy seas abroad, the ASX 200’s relatively low weighting in tech stocks made it a safer port. The consumer-facing sector led today’s gains, supported by a dovish repricing in the rates market after Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Michele Bullock’s speech at the Anika Foundation Fundraising Lunch in Sydney.

Consumer stocks rise as markets reprice RBA outlook

While the RBA’s hawkish bias remains, ‘The Board is prepared to act as required to achieve its mandate, including by increasing the cash rate further if needed’, the Governor noted that demand growth is moderating broadly as expected and that the housing market has softened by more than the Bank had anticipated in May. She also observed that labour market conditions have eased a little more than expected, with the unemployment rate rising by somewhat more than forecast.

Combined with this week’s fall in oil prices, the Australian interest rate market is now pricing in just 5 basis points (bp) of hikes for the August meeting, with a full 25 bp hike not fully priced until March 2027. This is a meaningful dovish shift from last week, when the market was pricing in 10 bp of hikes for August and a full 25 bp move in November following the stronger-than-expected jobs report. Whether it turns out to be a false move ahead of tomorrow’s critical June-quarter consumer price index (CPI) number remains to be seen.

ASX 200 stocks

Consumer discretionary sector

• Guzman y Gomez jumped 6.51% to $23.34
• Baby Bunting lifted 5.53% to $1.14
• Super Retail Group gained 3.37% to $13.19.

Financials sector

The heavyweight financials sector is poised for a fifth straight day of gains and is now up a robust 6.31% month to date.

• Commonwealth Bank lifted 1.12% to $178.04
• Westpac added 0.77% to $37.98
• ANZ Group gained 0.81% to $37.19
• National Australia Bank edged 0.57% higher to $41.18.

Materials sector

It has been a tough day for mining stocks as a flight to safety supported the US dollar and weighed on commodity prices.

• Sandfire Resources fell 3.85% to $18.51
• Capstone Copper dropped 3.07% to $12.97
• Mineral Resources slipped 2.83% to $53.16
• BHP Group lost 1.36% to $59.28
• Rio Tinto fell 2.25% to $159.90 ahead of its HY26 earnings report tomorrow morning, previewed here.

ASX 200 technical analysis

The ASX 200 has been stuck in a broad 8500 - 9000 trading range for the past 16 weeks, largely due to the headwinds outlined above. Within that range, the 8800 - 8780 zone, which includes the 200-day moving average, has acted like a magnet since mid-June.

With the August reporting season now upon us, the scene is set for a break of the range, though the direction of that break remains to be seen.

ASX 200 daily candlestick chart

• _{Source: TradingView. The figures stated are as of 28 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.}