ASX holds firm as Iran conflict boosts oil and new China AI hits tech

Australia’s sharemarket has avoided the calamity of other Asian indices, as surging oil prices and AI led tech rout hammered global equities. The benchmark ASX 200 slipped just 5.40 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 8791.30 on Monday, while the broader All Ordinaries shaved 4.10 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 8974.70. Australia’s dollar firmed 0.14 per cent against the greenback to buy 69.89 US cents. On an overall mixed day of trading, six of the 11 sectors fell, with gains out of the energy sector offset by falls in technology shares. Leading the falls across Asian markets were fresh strikes between the United States and Iran, which led to global prices soaring. Oil prices continued to march higher with Brent Crude Oil up another 2.7 per cent to $US90.51 ($A130) a barrel, after Iran said the ceasefire with the US has effectively collapsed after both countries attacked each other over the weekend. Tehran vowed not a “single drop” of oil or gas would pass through the critical Strait of Hormuz, while US President Donald Trump said Iran was hit “very hard” by strikes. Oil producer Woodside shares jumped 1.44 per cent to $30.90, Santos climbed 2.08 per cent to $2.08 and Ampol finished 1.01 per cent higher to $37.93 due to these rising oil prices. Australia’s major miners were hit by rising oil prices and sliding commodity values with BHP trading flat at $57.54, while Rio Tinto dropped 1.86 per cent to $157.95 and Fortescue fell 0.53 per cent to $18.77. Also weighing on the technologies sector was Jitters around Moonshot’s Kimi K3 model, which sparked heavy selling on the Nasdaq and extended intoSouth Korea’s Kospi on Monday. The Kospi fell by more than four per cent alone during Australia’s trading hours. The K3 Model has up-ended industry perceptions of China’s artificial intelligence capabilities and sent tech stocks reeling. IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said the Kimi K3 model had wiped roughly $314bn from the combined value of Anthropic and OpenAi from their pre-IPO market price. “What’s really been eye-catching is the explosive early demand for Kimi K3 itself — it’s been so strong that Moonshot has paused new consumer subscriptions to protect service quality for existing users while they rush to add more compute capacity,” he said. “This highlights just how quickly the goalposts are shifting and that frontier performance is no longer a US-only game.” Australia’s tech sector fell in line with global peers with Xero shares down 2.08 per cent to $68.27, WiseTech slumped 3.55 per cent to $33.71 and TechnologyOne dropped 1.48 per cent to $29.22. In company news, mining billionaire Andrew Forrest bought a $190m (16.8 per cent) stake in tungsten miner EQ Resources — one of the biggest producers of critical minerals outside of China. It sent the stock price soaring 34.09 per cent to $0.30. South32 shares jumped 4.62 per cent to $4.08 after the business exceeded 2026 production guidance across key sites including in its Sierra Gorda and Cannington mine operations. Dreamworld owner Coast Entertainment soared 15.22 per cent to $0.53 after the Queensland Government approved the development for the company’s 55-hectare Coomera landholding. Shares in Wee Bit nano slumped 7.36 per cent to $5.47 after announcing revenue would come in at least $13.5m up from previous guidance of $12m.