ASX 200 drops for eighth straight session as miners slide; Woolworths sinks on guidance

Australia’s share market extended its slide on Thursday, with the S&P/ASX 200 closing down 0.24% at 8,665.80 points. The drop marked an eighth consecutive session of losses and a three-week low, the longest losing streak since 2018 for the AXJO, as a sell-off in mining and resources overshadowed gains across several other sectors.

The divergence beneath the surface was stark. Materials fell 2.65%, while Financials rose 0.96%, Industrials gained 1.04%, Energy added 1.37% and Information Technology climbed 0.66%. Exchange operator ASX Ltd led the index with a 5.10% rise. Cochlear advanced 4.44% to $94.00 and WiseTech Global added 3.41% to $42.72.

Energy producers Santos and Stanmore Resources each rose 3.0%, supported by elevated oil prices and ongoing geopolitical supply concerns. On the downside, gold and uranium explorers bore the brunt of risk-off sentiment. Westgold Resources dropped 9.32%, Deep Yellow fell 9.16% and Predictive Discovery slipped 8.87% to $0.925.

Zimplats Holdings declined 7.84% as investors continued to digest recent results. The session’s most notable casualty was Woolworths Group, which fell 7.78% to $34.39 after reporting third-quarter sales growth alongside tempered full-year guidance that raised concerns about margin sustainability and cost pressures.

The prolonged downturn has erased much of April’s earlier momentum, leaving the ASX 200 up just 2.2% for the month after trading more than 6% higher in the first half of April. The reversal reflects mounting concerns about inflation persistence, particularly as rising oil prices threaten to complicate the Reserve Bank of Australia’s policy calculus ahead of its next meeting.

Materials stocks, which carry substantial weight in the benchmark, have become the primary drag. Softening prices in iron ore, base metals and gold, plus ongoing uncertainty around Chinese demand, have prompted a reassessment of earnings expectations across the sector.

The 2.65% slide in Materials on Thursday contributed disproportionately to the index’s decline. Valuations have also eased. The ASX 200 is trading at approximately 19 times forward fiscal 2026 earnings, down from elevated multiples earlier in the year, with consensus expectations for earnings-per-share growth around 13%.

While difficult for near-term performance, this valuation reset is beginning to restore some risk-reward balance for longer-term investors. Woolworths’ sharp fall, typically a defensive anchor, sent ripples through consumer staples and spurred a broader reassessment of premium valuations in perceived safe-haven stocks.

The company’s update highlighted margin pressure from wage inflation and competitive dynamics, prompting analysts to trim full-year profit expectations. Among mid-cap resources, the sell-off in gold and uranium names reflected a de-leveraging pattern among higher-beta stocks.

Genesis Minerals fell 8.50% to $5.81, while Deep Yellow’s 9.16% decline extended recent weakness in uranium equities after a strong prior run. Market attention now turns to commodity price moves and policy signals as investors weigh the outlook ahead of the RBA’s next meeting.