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Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 36.7 points, or 0.42%, to 8,771.8 by midday Tuesday, extending a cautious start to the trading week as a sharp spike in oil prices and renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East weighed on investor sentiment across the region.

The pullback followed a subdued open, with the index having been expected to start the session roughly 8 points, or 0.1%, lower based on overnight SPI futures, following a weak session on Wall Street. The move deepened as the morning progressed, driven primarily by a dramatic overnight surge in crude oil prices tied to escalating conflict between the United States and Iran. Brent crude jumped as much as 10.76% to around $83.31 a barrel overnight, a one-day move comparable in scale to the roughly 10.71% spike recorded during an earlier flare-up in the conflict, after President Donald Trump declared the United States would act as the “guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz and confirmed that U.S. forces would resume blockading traffic to and from Iranian ports beginning at 4 p.m. New York time on July 14.

The renewed spike in energy prices came on top of an already difficult run for Australian equities. Monday’s session saw the ASX 200 fight to finish in positive territory despite the ongoing volatility, following a stretch in which the index had snapped a four-session losing streak Friday, closing up 44 points, or 0.5%, at 8,806, driven by gains across mining, financial and industrial stocks as iron ore and copper prices strengthened. That recovery proved short-lived once fresh tensions in the Middle East resurfaced over the weekend.

Tuesday’s cautious tone extended across the region more broadly, with analysts pointing to a combination of factors weighing on sentiment beyond just oil prices. Rising bond yields, weaker global technology stocks and softer mining sentiment all contributed to the mixed outlook heading into the session, according to market commentary from Kalkine Media. Traders were also positioning ahead of a busy week of macroeconomic catalysts, including U.S. inflation data, testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, and June trade performance alongside second-quarter GDP figures due from China, Australia’s largest trading partner. Locally, July business and consumer confidence readings are also scheduled for release later this week.

Mining stocks, typically a key driver of ASX 200 performance given the index’s heavy weighting toward resources companies, eased ahead of a wave of quarterly production updates expected from major producers this week. Sector heavyweights BHP Group and Rio Tinto both traded modestly lower, down 0.1% and 0.3% respectively, according to Trading Economics. Technology shares lagged more significantly, with Xero falling 4.5% and WiseTech Global dropping 2.1%, while gold miners also slipped, led by declines of 2.6% at Northern Star Resources and 1.6% at Evolution Mining.

The day’s most significant corporate news came from the gold mining sector, where Genesis Minerals announced it would acquire rival Vault Minerals in a cash-and-scrip transaction valuing Vault at approximately $5.6 billion, creating what the companies described as a top-three ASX-listed gold producer anchored in Western Australia’s Leonora-Laverton district. Under the terms of the scheme, Vault shareholders will receive 0.7629 new Genesis shares plus 47.5 cents in cash for each Vault share held, implying a value of $5.2741 per share at announcement, representing a 15.7% premium to Vault’s last closing price. Genesis shareholders will hold approximately 59.8% of the combined group, with Vault shareholders owning the remaining 40.2%. Vault’s board has unanimously recommended the scheme to shareholders in the absence of a superior competing proposal. The deal follows Vault’s earlier decision to terminate a previously agreed merger with Regis Resources, a move that triggered a break fee of approximately $50.7 million payable by Vault to Regis. The combined Genesis-Vault group would carry a pro forma market capitalization of roughly $12.6 billion, with annual production expected in a range of 600,000 to 700,000 ounces and mineral resources totaling 33.6 million ounces.

Elsewhere on the market, uranium-linked exchange-traded funds continued to reflect a broader pullback across that sector following a period of strong gains earlier in the year, with the Global X Uranium ETF down 5.2%, trading at its lowest level since early September 2025 and down 6.3% year-to-date. Separately, Voltaic Strategic Resources announced plans to raise fresh capital Tuesday through a placement of up to 2.97 million new shares.

The broader macro backdrop remains dominated by the rapidly evolving situation in the Middle East, where fighting between the United States and Iran has escalated sharply in recent days. Trump’s declaration that the U.S. would take on a formal “guardian” role over the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical oil shipping corridors, and would seek reimbursement for the cost of securing the waterway, has added a new layer of uncertainty for global energy markets already grappling with the conflict’s disruption to regional shipping routes.

The S&P/ASX 200, Australia’s benchmark share market index comprising the country’s 200 largest listed companies by float-adjusted market capitalization, has traded well below its all-time high of 9,198.6 points reached in February, settling closer to the 8,800 level through much of the middle of the year amid a mix of domestic and international headwinds. Over its more than 25-year history, the index has delivered a long-term annualized total return of roughly 8.2%, including dividends, a benchmark that has provided some longer-term context even as short-term volatility tied to geopolitical developments continues to dominate day-to-day sentiment.

With oil prices remaining highly sensitive to further developments in the Strait of Hormuz standoff and a heavy slate of domestic and international economic data due later this week, investors are expected to remain focused on how quickly, or slowly, the situation in the Middle East evolves, along with any further signals from Federal Reserve officials and Chinese economic data that could shape sentiment across Australian equities in the sessions ahead.

ET Intelligence Group: SBI Funds Management, the country’s largest Asset Management Company (AMC) by assets under management, plans to raise ₹11,693 crore through an offer for sale. The promoter stake will fall to 88% after the IPO from 98%. SBIFM is expected to benefit from the increasing participation of households in the equity market and State bank of India’s extensive branch network across India. However, its business is exposed to volatility in financial markets. As such, the issue appears to be suitable for long-term investors with a higher risk tolerance.

Business

Incorporated in 1992, SBI Funds Management commands a 15.3% market share as of March 2026 based on mutual fund quarterly average assets under management (QAAUM) of ₹12.5 lakh crore.

It manages assets across mutual funds, portfolio management services (PMS), alternative investment funds, offshore funds as well as specialised investment funds, with total QAAUM of ₹29.46 lakh crore.

SBI MF is the market leader in systematic investment plans (SIPs), with 16.2 million live accounts, representing a 15rket share by count and 11.4% of industry inflows as of March 31, 2026. It is also India’s largest PMS provider with a 39.7% market share. The company operates in a tightly regulated industry. Any changes to mutual fund fees or commission structures may affect its financial performance.

FINANCIALS
Revenue from operations rose 28% annually to Rs 4,389 crore between FY24 and FY26 while net profit grew 22% annually to Rs 3,067 crore. Return on equity expanded to 43% in FY26 from 36% in FY24. It has the lowest operating expense ratio of 0.08% among the top 10 AMCs in India compared with 0.10-0.25% for peers.
VALUATION
Despite having the largest AUM, it has a lower share of equityoriented schemes. As a result, it has a lower market capitalisation-equity AUM ratio of 20% compared with 24% and 23% for ICICI Prudential AMC and Nippon Life AMC respectively. AMCs with a larger proportion of equity and equity-oriented schemes tend to earn higher revenue since these products carry higher management fees than debt, liquid and other non-equity funds. The IPO commands a priceearning (P/E) multiple of 38.2 compared with 47.7 for ICICI Prudential AMC, 41.1 for HDFC AMC and 50.9 for Nippon Life AMC.

ET Intelligence Group: HCL Technologies reported marginally better than anticipated financial performance for the June quarter where analysts had set lower expectations amid weaker sentiments towards the IT sector marred by delayed project executions and slower decision making by clients.

The country’s third largest software exporter reported higher new deals momentum during the quarter with a total contract value of $2.4 billion compared with $1.9 billion in the previous quarter and maintained that the order pipeline was strong and deal booking would improve further in the September quarter. However, this optimism did not reflect in its full year revenue and operating margin guidance which remained unchanged from the prior quarter at 1-4% revenue growth in constant currency with a margin band of 17.5-18.5%.

Similar to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), it also announced an investment in the datacentre to help deliver full stack artificial intelligence (AI) related solutions. Barring an occasional spurt, the stock may remain range-bound until clarity on trend in discretionary client spending emerges.

The ₹3,500 crore capital expenditure on the datacentre project to create a 50 megawatt facility will be funded through a combination of debt and equity though more clarity is awaited. Last October, TCS, the country’s largest software exporter, became the first top tier Indian IT company to announce a datacentre investment estimated at around ₹55,000 crore to create one gigawatt facility.

At the time, HCLTech had no intentions to foray into such a venture. However, almost a year later, it has decided to build such capabilities citing a scarcity of datacentre capacity required for the compute or training stage of AI models. Such projects are likely to yield benefits in medium-to-long term and their success will depend upon effective customer engagements and agility to handle technological shifts.

For the June quarter, HCLTech’s revenue fell by 0.9% sequentially to $3,650 million while operating margin improved by 40 basis points to 16.9%. In rupee terms, revenue and net profit rose by 1.8% and 3% to ₹34,579 crore and ₹4,624 crore respectively.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce made their first public appearance as a married couple over the weekend, attending the wedding of former NFL wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and fitness coach Laura Kruk at the Ritz-Carlton in Dana Point, California, just over a week after their own star-studded ceremony in New York City.

The pair were photographed at the Friday, July 10, celebration, with Swift wearing a pink floral gown and appearing to sport her wedding ring, according to multiple outlets covering the appearance. Kelce wore a black suit for the occasion. Photos showed the couple walking hand in hand into the venue before mingling with the bride and groom throughout the evening, marking the newlyweds’ first public outing together since news of their own wedding, held July 3 at Madison Square Garden, first broke.

Swift, 36, and Kelce, also 36, were also seen spending time at the reception with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany, with Swift seated next to Brittany Mahomes during the event. Smith-Schuster, 29, who signed with the New York Giants in early June to bolster the team’s receiving corps, had previously attended Swift and Kelce’s own wedding earlier in the month as one of roughly 1,000 guests present. The two men were teammates on the Kansas City Chiefs for three seasons, a stretch that included a Super Bowl LVII victory together in February 2023, a shared history that made the reciprocal wedding attendance between the two families unsurprising to those close to the group.

Smith-Schuster and Kruk became engaged in September 2024 aboard a boat off the coast of Nantucket Island. At Swift and Kelce’s wedding earlier this month, Kruk had worn a Sau Lee gown featuring a corseted bodice and a draped maroon skirt, a look that notably resembled an outfit separately worn by Swift’s longtime friend Abigail Anderson Berard, an overlap widely described in coverage of the event as a lighthearted coincidence given the scale of the guest list.

Swift and Kelce’s own ceremony at Madison Square Garden drew roughly 1,000 guests and was officiated by comedian and longtime family friend Adam Sandler. The couple departed from several wedding traditions, forgoing a conventional wedding party of bridesmaids and groomsmen. Instead, Swift’s brother, Austin Swift, served as her “man of honor,” while Kelce’s brother, retired NFL center Jason Kelce, served as his best man, according to a representative for the couple.

Several attendees from the July 3 ceremony have since shared reflections on the celebration. Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, who attended the wedding, spoke publicly about the marriage advice Sandler offered the couple during an event in Salt Lake City on July 5. “He told them, ‘Keep kissing,’” Reid said, according to the Deseret News. “So, in its simplest form, that’s a good thing. It’s hard to argue when you give your wife a kiss, or your wife gives you a kiss.”

Former NFL quarterback and broadcaster Ryan Fitzpatrick, who attended the wedding with his wife, Liza, described Sandler’s appearance as officiant as one of the evening’s standout moments. “When Adam Sandler walked out — it had everybody floored, that was really cool,” Fitzpatrick told People. “The ceremony was beautiful.” Fitzpatrick also described the extensive dancing at the reception. “There was a LOT of dancing, hours and hours, we’re still kind of recovering from being out on that dance floor for six-plus hours,” he said, adding, “My favorite moment was just I got to spend the night with my wife just on the dance floor, being around and being in it, so that was pretty magical for us.”

Broadcaster Rich Eisen separately confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that the flower girls at the ceremony were the four daughters of Jason Kelce: Wyatt, Elliotte, Bennett and Finnley, whom Eisen said were “sprinkling flower petals all over the place” throughout the event.

Ahead of traveling to California for Smith-Schuster’s wedding, Swift and Kelce reportedly spent time in Montana with Jason Kelce and his wife, Kylie, with reports indicating the newlyweds visited the members-only Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana, following their own wedding before heading west for Friday’s celebration.

The couple’s public appearance at Smith-Schuster’s wedding came amid separate news regarding the costs associated with their own Madison Square Garden ceremony. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed earlier this month that Swift had paid more than $160,000 to cover the permit and police security costs tied to closing streets around Madison Square Garden for the wedding, addressing public criticism that had emerged over the use of city resources for the event. “Taylor Swift will be paying, has paid already, the cost of the permit that was lodged, which was over $160,000 for that event, and for the response to that event,” Mamdani told reporters. “And that was a permit that was finalized, I think, in just the days before the event itself.”

Friday’s gathering offered fans a rare glimpse into Swift and Kelce’s post-wedding activities amid an otherwise ongoing NFL offseason, with Smith-Schuster continuing preparations for his first season with the Giants after signing with the team in June. The high-profile appearance underscored the close personal ties between Smith-Schuster and the newly married couple, a friendship rooted in his shared history with Kelce as Kansas City Chiefs teammates and reinforced by their mutual attendance at each other’s weddings within the span of a single week.

Representatives for Swift and Kelce had not issued additional public comment specifically addressing the appearance at Smith-Schuster’s wedding as of Monday, though the couple’s continued high-profile presence at events tied to their close circle of friends and former teammates has kept both figures firmly in the spotlight in the days following their own widely covered ceremony.

Gold slid to a two-week low on Tuesday as the U.S.-Iran conflict in the Gulf sent oil prices soaring and fuelled inflation fears, with hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller further reinforcing bets on higher U.S. interest rates.

FUNDAMENTALS

Spot gold was down 0.2% at $3,993.83 per ounce by 0110 GMT, having shed about 3% in the previous session ‌in its biggest ⁠daily percentage ⁠decline in more than a month. U.S. gold futures for August delivery were steady at $4,000.70.

The U.S. military carried out a third consecutive night of strikes against Iran on Monday and two tankers came under fire in the Strait of Hormuz, after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington was reinstating its blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf.

Oil futures hit their highest point since mid-June, ⁠having surged about 9% ‌in the previous session, while U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar climbed as the conflict between the United States and Iran re-ignited ⁠over the weekend.

Investors will closely watch June U.S. CPI data due later in the day for fresh clues on inflation and the Fed’s policy path, with PPI data and Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s first semiannual testimony before Congress this week also in focus.

The U.S. central bank may need to raise interest rates “in the near term” if coming data show inflation continuing well above the 2% target, Waller said on Monday, ‌in remarks that characterized monetary policy as being at a “crossroads.”
Traders have ramped up bets on a September U.S. interest rate hike, with CME Group’s FedWatch Tool showing ⁠the probability rising to around 78% from 57% a week ago.
The European Union announced on Monday new sanctions against Sudan by targeting the country’s gold trade, which it said was being used to finance the military conflict in the country.
Elsewhere, spot silver declined 1.2% to $56.98 per ounce, having earlier touched a two-week low.

Platinum fell 1% to $1,589.35 and palladium eased 0.4% to $1,242.54.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

1230 US Core CPI MM, SA June

1230 US Core CPI YY, NSA June

1230 US CPI MM, SA June

1230 US CPI YY, NSA June

1230 US CPI Wage Earner June : China Exports, Imports YY June : China Trade Balance USD June

The dollar steadied on Tuesday ahead of U.S. inflation data, with Middle East tensions lifting oil prices while the yen held a soft tone amid caution over possible intervention and after policymakers’ comments on state pension fund allocations.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, was flat at 101.27.

Inflation risks remain in the spotlight with the release of U.S. June CPI data on Tuesday, June PPI gauges the following day, and Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s first semiannual testimony ‌before Congress.

Concerns over ⁠escalating tensions ⁠between the United States and Iran returned to the fore, with President Donald Trump saying on Monday Washington was reinstating a naval blockade on Tehran and would ensure the Strait of Hormuz remained open for a fee following fresh exchanges of missile and drone strikes.

U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged heavy missile and drone assaults at the weekend, with Tehran striking U.S. facilities in states across the Gulf on Sunday and saying it had again closed the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route.

Oil prices rose more than 9% to a one-month high on Monday. Both U.S. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude futures rose more ⁠than 2% ‌to their highest since mid-June in early Tuesday trading.
The euro was stable against the dollar at $1.1383 and sterling traded at $1.3347. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said rates may need to rise “in the near term” if data ⁠shows inflation remaining well above the central bank’s 2% target.

A core CPI reading of 0.3% or higher would likely imply, depending on PPI data due later in the week, that the Fed’s preferred core PCE deflator is also running at 0.3% or above, said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank, in a podcast.

“That may well be a trigger for a Fed rate hike as early as the July meeting,” Attrill said.

Economists’ median estimate for the June core CPI was 0.2% growth month-on-month.

Fed funds futures are pricing in about 30 basis points of rate hikes by the U.S. central bank this year, according to LSEG data.YEN UNDER ‌PRESSURE AGAIN

The Japanese yen was roughly flat against the greenback at 162.40 per dollar, putting traders back on alert for possible intervention from authorities in Tokyo as the Japanese currency continues to languish at 40-year lows.

“Japanese authorities appear to have softened their tolerance ⁠a touch, though they remain vigilant and have indicated that further forceful intervention is on the cards should we see another dramatic move from here,” said Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at Ebury, a British payment firm.

The Japanese yen slipped against the dollar on Monday after Reuters reported that Tokyo had no imminent plans to change the asset allocations of its state pension funds, tempering expectations of near-term support for domestic assets.

The yen and Japanese bonds had rallied on Friday after Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said the government would seek ways to encourage pension funds, including the Government Pension Investment Fund, to make greater investments in Japanese financial assets.

The Australian dollar last traded at $0.6915 versus the greenback. New Zealand’s kiwi gained 0.24% versus the dollar to $0.5762.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin rose 0.23% to $62,293.66. Ether was up 0.56% at $1,775.54.