ASX 200 Rises 1.39% to 8,894 as Brent Unwinds and Tech Leads

ASX 200 close: 8,894.0 (+1.39%) Breadth: 232 advancers / 52 decliners (ASX 300) Sentiment: bullish

The S&P/ASX 200 closed at 8,894.0 on 27 July 2026, up 121.7 points or 1.39%, after the United States paused its strikes on Iran for a second day and Brent crude fell 6.56% from Friday's settle to US$90.43. Capricorn Metals CMM.AU rose 15.13% to $13.70 on an updated Mount Gibson pre-feasibility study carrying a pre-tax net present value of A$6.1 billion. Nasdaq futures ran 1.53% higher through the Asian session on US$950 billion of Korean memory supply agreements, which fed straight into the local technology bid.

What moved the index

Four sectors carried most of the 139 basis point move, and one mechanism explains all four. Cheaper crude pulled bond yields down, and lower yields lift anything priced off long-dated earnings.

• Materials, +2.42%: roughly 19% of the index, worth about 46 basis points. Diesel is among the largest operating costs in extraction, so a falling oil price cuts what miners pay to run a pit. BHP.AU rose 2.12% to $60.10, RIO.AU 2.24% to $163.58 and SFR.AU 3.89% to $19.24.
• Financials, +1.19%: about 33% of the index, worth some 39 basis points. That is the largest contribution of the four despite the smallest percentage move, which is what a one-third index weight does. WBC.AU +1.45%, NAB.AU +1.36%, CBA.AU +1.17% and ANZ.AU +1.15%.
• Information Technology, +4.52%: the strongest sector, worth roughly 16 basis points on a 3.5% weight. Long-duration earnings re-rate fastest when discount rates fall. WTC.AU gained 7.00% to $32.12, XRO.AU 6.02% to $65.29, TNE.AU 5.79% to $28.68 and 360.AU 5.46% to $24.33.
• Energy, -2.99%: the only sector to close lower, subtracting about 12 basis points. STO.AU fell 3.64% to $7.68 and WDS.AU 2.93% to $31.42.

Those four account for about 89 basis points of the 139. Real Estate (+1.70%) and Health Care (+1.44%) run on the same yield mechanism and add roughly 23 more, leaving about 27 basis points from Industrials (+1.53%), Communication Services (+1.41%) and Consumer Discretionary (+0.81%). Ten of eleven sectors finished higher, which matches the 232 to 52 advance/decline count.

Session highlights

The S&P/ASX 200 finished at 8,894.0 on 27 July 2026, its highest close since 18 June and its largest single-session gain since 12 June, ending the day at its intraday high and 1.4% above its low.

• 232 advancers against 52 decliners across the ASX 300, a ratio of 4.5 to 1, with Energy the sole sector in the red.
• CMM.AU +15.13% to $13.70 after its updated Mount Gibson study added underground production for the first time and lifted steady-state output to 260,000 ounces a year by year three.
• EOS.AU +8.44% to $7.45 after raising FY26 base revenue guidance to $280 million to $300 million from $240 million to $270 million, with the order book at a record $846 million.
• 11.35 was the close on the S&P/ASX 200 VIX, down 2.90%, while US VIX fell 5.01% to 17.65.
• 3,326.6 on the Small Ordinaries, up 1.47%, and 2,850.9 on the All Technology index, up 3.17%, both ahead of the benchmark.

Sector scorecard

• Best: Information Technology (+4.52%)
• Worst: Energy (-2.99%)
• Dispersion (best minus worst): 7.51 pts
• Materials held the widest internal spread of any sector: CMM.AU +15.13% against NIC.AU -7.19%, a gap of 22.3 points inside a single sector that finished up 2.42%.

Top movers

Notable announcements

• CNB.AU +57.29% to $0.755 on an all-scrip scheme from EVN.AU at 0.0682 Evolution shares per Carnaby share, an implied $0.77 and a 60% premium to Friday's close, valuing Carnaby at $213 million.
• LOT.AU -62.12% to $0.25 after completing the institutional leg of a 1-for-1 entitlement offer priced at $0.22, a 66% discount to its $0.66 prior close, raising about A$34.2 million. Macquarie moved its rating to Neutral from Outperform.
• MYR.AU -12.00% to $0.22 on preliminary FY26 sales of $4.09 billion and comparable group sales up 0.7%, with heavier discounting cutting operating gross profit margin to 39.2% from 40.3%.
• PPT.AU +3.07% to $19.50 after EQT lifted its takeover proposal to $22.50 a share, valuing Perpetual at about $2.65 billion.
• WDS.AU had its $48.7 billion Browse development declared a State Significant Project by the Western Australian government, and STO.AU loaded the first condensate cargo from Barossa, about 300,000 barrels, with Darwin LNG at 97% of planned rates.
• SMR.AU reported June quarter run-of-mine coal of 5.1Mt against 4.74Mt expected and saleable production of 3.3Mt against 3.15Mt expected.

At the AU close (17:35 AEST)

Next 24h catalysts (AEST)

• Tue 13:05 RBA Governor Michelle Bullock speaks
• Wed 00:00 US Conference Board July consumer confidence, 92.1 forecast against 91.2 in June
• Wed 11:30 Australia June CPI, headline +0.2% month on month and +4.0% annual forecast, trimmed mean +0.4% month on month
• Thu 04:00 US Federal Reserve decision, no change at 3.75% forecast
• Thu 11:30 Australia June building approvals, -0.5% month on month forecast
• Thu 22:30 US June quarter advance GDP at +2.3% forecast, and June core PCE at +0.1% month on month
• Fri 11:30 China July PMI, manufacturing 49.9 forecast against 50.3 previous
• This week Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Amazon report

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