Australian share market: War losses jump to $300 billion as Donald Trump ultimatum sparks a new sell-off

Australia’s share market has flirted with correction territory as Donald Trump’s ultimatum to Iran escalated a broadening war that has already wiped 4 per cent from retirement nest eggs. Having nosedived 1.8 per cent on opening on Monday, the S&P-ASX200 was briefly off 10 per cent from its record peak of seven weeks ago, marking a technical correction. However, a fightback reduced its loss to 0.74 per cent - the index closing at a 10-month low of 8365.9 points - as gains in energy, utility, healthcare and consumer discretionary stocks partly offset falls by mining, property and industrial shares. Australia’s flagship equity barometer has now lost 9 per cent, wiping $300 billion off share values, since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28. While sending oil prices and gas prices soaring, fuelling inflation across global chains and threatening world economic growth, the conflict is also playing out on superannuation accounts. Superannuation consultant Chant West said that as of Sunday, the median growth fund had lost 3.8 per cent since the end of February, reducing its gain for the 2026 financial year to about 2.5 per cent. US president Donald Trump added to investor fears about the ever-escalating conflict on Sunday by giving Iran a two-day deadline to reopen the global oil gateway of the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its power plants. Iran countered that it would close the Strait “completely” and target energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure if the power facilities came under attack. “President Trump’s threat has now placed a 48-hour ticking time bomb of elevated uncertainty over markets,” IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said. Car retailer Eagers Automotive was the day’s biggest winner on the ASX, leaping 6.1 per cent as investors bet that the jump in fuel prices would push more Australians into electric cars. Premier investments and AUB each rose more than 5 per cent. The utilities sector was the best performer, up 1.5 per cent, ahead of energy (1.2 per cent), consumer discretionaries (0.25 per cent), health (0.2 per cent) and telcos (0.1 per cent). Miners suffered the biggest losses, with the sector down 3.1 per cent after gold plunged 5 per cent to as low as $US4270 an ounce, wiping out the last of this year’s gains. With the war raising inflationary risks and reducing the prospect for near-term interest rate cuts in the US and elsewhere, bullion is one of the conflict’s biggest casualties. Catalyst Metals and Ora Banda Mining led the falls, shedding 14 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. More than 15 other ASX200-listed gold miners lost between 4 per cent and 10 per cent. Analysts fear the market’s losses could worsen. “Given the seriousness of the events in the Middle East, it’s perhaps surprising equities markets have not fallen harder in recent weeks – likely because investors have been hoping Trump would end hostilities at any given moment,” Betashares chief economist David Bassanese said. “So far that’s not been the case and sadly we may need to see more market pain before a Trump TACO (Trump always chickens out) moment might arrive.”