Australia’s share market is staging a modest recovery, edging higher after a midweek inflation surprise hammered hopes the Reserve Bank’s interest rate hiking cycle was over.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 30 points by midday, up 0.33 per cent, to 9,068.1, as the broader All Ordinaries lifted by 28.6 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 9,271.8.

Despite an overnight rally in US technology stocks supporting local IT names, domestic and global risks were weighing on investor confidence.

“Investors and analysts continue to assess the implications for future Reserve Bank policy decisions, now fully pricing in a rate hike before the end of the year, up from only a 50 per cent chance at the start of this week,” Westpac economist Mantas Vanagas said.

“Oil prices took a step higher after reports suggested that President Trump had rejected the idea of re-establishing the terms of the memorandum of understanding the US signed with Iran in June.”

Woodside, Santos and coal producers improved as Brent crude prices firmed to $US88 a barrel, while Ampol, Viva and uranium stocks lost ground.

Financials rebounded 0.6 per cent after falling on par with mid-June lows on Thursday, with all big four banks in the green.

Resources stocks crept higher as BHP firmed to $66.69, as copper prices hovered near all-time highs, putting the segment on track for a 1.3 per cent boost for the week.

Gold producers were mixed, as investors continued to take profits on precious metals, with gold trading at $US4,577 ($A6,359) an ounce.

Consumer staples eased 1.1 per cent, falling for a second session after rallying on the back of strong results from Coles and Woolworths, while cyclicals were down 1.7 per cent since Monday.

Australian IT stocks outperformed the broader market, the segment charging 4.6 per cent higher, as WiseTech, Xero and Technology One soared.

As earnings season winds down, Harvey Norman shares have dipped despite boosting its full-year sales revenue to $9.6 billion and delivering growth across all major metrics.

Virgin handed down a $501 million full-year bottom-line profit, up 4.7 per cent on 2024/25, despite disruptions due to the Middle East conflict.

Australia Post reported a pre-tax profit of $31.8 million as packages and services revenue topped $8 billion for the first time.

But the government-owned company’s underlying figure was a $107.6 million loss after excluding property divestment returns.

Digital property exchange Pexa tanked more than 18 per cent despite a broadly positive financial result, as it warned transaction volumes were falling.

The Australian dollar is buying 71.97 US cents, up from 71.84 US cents on Thursday at 5pm.

Property sell-offs and billions of dollars in parcels and services revenue have delivered Australia Post a nearly 70 per cent full-year profit improvement.

Parcels income swelled to a record $8.01 billion in 2025/26, up almost five per cent from the previous financial year.

The postage carrier handed down a pre-tax profit of $31.8 million, up from $18.8 million the year before, although this year’s figure would have been a 107.6 million loss without $140 million in property divestment returns.

The Commonwealth-owned company was delivering on its strategy, but more work was needed to protect its sustainability, chief executive and managing director Paul Graham said.

“Australia Post is taking a different path,” he said in statement on Friday.

“We want to keep building a modern Australia Post for a modern Australia, one that provides even faster delivery, more convenient parcel collection and continued access to essential services for all Australians.”

Losses from letter sending fell to $63.2 million, down from more than $230 million a year earlier, as letter volumes dropped 14.7 per cent to 1.42 billion.

The impact was partially offset a 20 cent increase to the basic postage rate to $1.70 in mid-2025, with that figure to rise to $1.85 on September 1.

The organisation’s new delivery model, which includes reducing non-urgent letter delivery frequency and strategically alternating dispatches by parcel type, saved the company $188.3 million over the 12 months.

“We are upgrading what we do and how we do it because the way Australians work, shop and connect has changed,” Mr Graham said.

“Australians are sending fewer letters than ever before, while buying, selling and transacting online at record levels.”

The company would continue to look ways to streamline the letters service, but said more price hikes and efficiencies would be required to ensure the sustainability of essential services delivery, especially in regional, remote and vulnerable communities.

Operating costs increased by almost four per cent, driven by wages growth, licensee commissions and contractor rates, and higher parcel volume-related costs. 

The carrier remained committed to maintaining 4000 retail outlets throughout Australia (there are currently 4118), with 2500 of those in regional or remote locations, the statement said.

“As Australia changes, Australia Post is evolving, but what will not change is our commitment to connecting Australians, supporting communities and helping businesses grow,” Mr Graham said.

Australia’s second-largest airline has lifted its annual earnings despite headwinds from the US-Iran war, which disrupted passenger travel plans and increased jet fuel costs.

Virgin Australia, which re-listed on the stock exchange in June 2025, on Friday reported its first full-year profit as a full company member of the local bourse.

While its first half 2025/26 performance was strong, conditions were more challenging in the second half due to cost pressures and the US-Iran war, which made fuel markets very volatile, chair Peter Warne and chief executive Dave Emerson said.

“Our fuel hedging strategy supported our performance during financial year 2026, and we continue to monitor market conditions every day,” they said in a joint statement.

Virgin made a bottom-line net profit of $501.2 million for 2025/26, up 4.7 per cent from the previous financial year.

Its underlying earnings – before interest and tax – came to $753.2 million, a jump of 13.4 per cent for the 12 months ended June 30, on an underlying revenue and income lift of 8.1 per cent to $6.3 billion.

Virgin made strides in reliability during the year, with on-time performance at 77.1 per cent, an improvement of 30 basis points from the previous year.

“Whether it’s a family holiday, an important business meeting, or simply getting home, our guests expect their flight to operate as planned,” Mr Warne and Mr Emerson said.

“So we are proud to maintain the lowest cancellation rate of the major airlines this year.” 

The airline, which services 56 domestic and 16 short-haul international routes, carried 21.3 million passengers in the year, up 3.2 per cent.

Looking ahead, the company leaders said they were optimistic about the future, although cost pressures on the airline would continue.

Virgin declared a dividend of 7.6 cents – its first payout to shareholders since relisting.

US President Donald Trump has renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America”, escalating a feud with Canada that has ‌already spawned tariffs on tens of billions of dollars in cross-border trade.

The change ‌would take effect immediately, said Trump, who also ordered the Gulf of Mexico ‌renamed as the Gulf of America after assuming office last year.

“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario effective immediately to Lake America,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“The lake change, the Lake of America, was something ‌I’ve been thinking ‌about for ⁠a long time, actually,” Trump said.

Trump signed an executive order that updated the lake’s name for the US geographic naming service.

The president cannot force Canada to follow his preferred naming convention, however.

Trade talks between ​the US and Canada collapsed last week with each side blaming the other for derailing three days of intensive negotiations. 

One of the five Great Lakes of North America, Lake Ontario borders both the Canadian province of Ontario and the US. state of ⁠New York.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark ‌Carney’s ​office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

After Trump ordered the ​Gulf of Mexico ‌renamed in January 2025, it took about two weeks for the US ​Board on Geographic Names, as part of the Department of the Interior, to update the official federal nomenclature in the Geographic Names Information System ​to ​reflect the changes, effective immediately for ​federal use.

About 52 per cent of the surface area of Lake ​Ontario is in Canada, with the remainder in New York under a ​1909 treaty.

with AP

The small Himalayan town Keshav Kadel migrated from was not the first to be hit by the floods ravaging his native Nepal. 

Nestled in the Chitwan district, it sits further along the Trishuli River than those more directly in the firing line, such as Gorkha and Rasuwa. 

The distance afforded residents more time to flee to higher ground, but it has not been spared the dead.

“What’s happening in my town is that bodies are now flowing in the river,” he told AAP.

“They have slid all the way down and people are pulling bodies from the river.”

At least 360 people have died and hundreds more remain unaccounted for, including dozens of Australians, since they began on Wednesday. 

Mr Kadel was among members of Nepalese community who gathered at the Australian Nepalese Multicultural Centre, which he serves as vice president, on Thursday. 

Families gathered for prayers and held a minute’s silence for those lost to the floods, laying candles beside a hand-crafted display of dyed rice reading “pray for Nepal”.

The diaspora was “united in grief, hope and prayer,” secretary of the centre Sudhir Shakya told the event, held northwest of Melbourne. 

“Behind every number is a person – a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a relative, a friend, and someone deeply loved,” he said.

Former Australian race discrimination commissioner Chin Tan told attendees the grief they felt extended well beyond the hall. 

“Today, all Australians are Nepalis, because our grief is yours,” he said

Mourners compared the floods to the 2015 earthquake which devastated Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, killing nearly 9000 people. 

While the death count is not as great, Mr Kadel warned consequences would be more dire at the level of individual towns. 

“The gravity of the situation is worse now because whole towns have swept away,” he said.

“Now there is nothing, it’s just a mudslide.”

From Melbourne, he has followed the disaster largely through social media, unable to bring himself to call those in the affected region. 

“I didn’t have the courage to do that,” he said. 

Similar events were held across the country on Thursday, including a candle vigil in Rockdale, in Sydney’s south.

Australians too are mourning their own, with Nepalese authorities reporting on Thursday at least 35 Australians remained missing. 

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials have been deployed to the region to assist recovery and identification efforts.

Smartraveller has updated its travel advice, urging people to exercise a high degree of caution because of major flash flooding and a mudslide.

Australians in need of urgent help should contact DFAT’s 24-hour consular emergency centre.

Three major UK airports have been hit by a “cyber security incident” in which the data of about 8.7 million customers was accessed, Manchester Airport Group says.

The company, which operates Manchester Airport, London Stansted and East Midlands Airport, said “at no point has passenger safety or aviation security been compromised” during the incident and neither MAG nor the system hacked held customers’ bank or payment details.

It is understood that the majority of the data accessed was restricted to customer email addresses and related to wifi sign-ups within the airports’ terminals.

Phone numbers, vehicle registration numbers and postcodes were also accessed during the hack, the company said, while operations at all three airports remained “unaffected”.

A MAG spokesperson said on Thursday: “Manchester Airports group has been subject to a cyber security incident by an unauthorised third party.

“A quantity of customer data has been obtained that relates to car park, lounge and fast track bookings and in-airport wifi sign-ups at Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports.

“We immediately contained the risk and have been working with specialist advisers and taking appropriate steps to protect our customers and systems.

“We have informed and are working with the relevant authorities. At no point has passenger safety or aviation security been compromised.”

Beverley Griffiths, senior lecturer in security and resilience at Buckinghamshire New University, said: “While email addresses, phone numbers, postcodes and vehicle registration details may appear less sensitive than financial data, large volumes of this information can be highly valuable to cyber criminals.

“Combined, these details can be used to build profiles of individuals and support targeted phishing, social engineering and fraud attempts.

“Manchester Airports Group appears to have responded quickly by containing the incident and working with the relevant authorities.

“Customers should remain vigilant for suspicious emails, texts or phone calls and verify any requests for personal information through official channels.”

More than 32 million passengers flew into or out of Manchester Airport last year, while more than 30 million travelled through Stansted, in Essex, and four million through East Midlands in Leicestershire.

Labor premiers have warned the prime minister the decision to keep Western Australia’s generous GST deal intact could cost him votes in eastern states.

A recent report by the Productivity Commission found the federal government’s 2018 GST deal was “perverse” and costing taxpayers more than $6 billion per year to fill up WA’s coffers.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged to keep the deal, despite the arrangement costing $60 billion by the end of the decade.

The deal ensures mining-rich WA, where Labor holds 11 of the state’s 16 federal seats, receives a guaranteed minimum share of the GST pool regardless of its actual revenue needs.

But while it has been applauded in the west, leaders in other jurisdictions have cautioned the GST arrangement could cost Labor support federally.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said states beside WA were now viewing GST distribution as an issue.

“You can win every single seat in Western Australia, but if you don’t win a majority of seats in the rest of the country, you still lose,” he told the Dubbo Bush Summit event on Thursday.

“The rest of the country is starting to catch on to the fact that the current arrangement is not okay.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns joked at the summit other states should join forces against WA in fighting for a fairer share of GST revenue.

“We should gang up,” he said.

The state Labor leader said the prime minister had made the wrong decision to guarantee WA a larger share.

“It’s too expensive for Australia, and that money comes from somewhere,” he said.

“It’s got to be on the national agenda because all of our other arrangements depend on what our split of the GST is.”

While the Morrison-government deal ensured other jurisdictions would not be worse off at the expense of WA, that provision will end at the end of the decade.

The GST issue was on the agenda at national cabinet in Sydney on Wednesday, when Mr Albanese met with state and territory leaders including WA Labor Premier Roger Cook.

WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti said the tax deal was essential for economic growth.

“We need to incentivise growing the economic base. We need a formula that incentivises new economic development,” she told the Bush Summit.

Ms Saffioti met with productivity commissioner Angela Jackson on Wednesday to discuss the deal.

After Mr Cook labelled the commission “east coast clowns” following the release of the report, Dr Jackson expressed concern, saying the verbal attacks were a step too far.

“Our view is that a line was crossed in terms of the nature of those comments from the Western Australian premier … he also called the report deceitful,” Dr Jackson told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

“To undermine and, I guess, attack our integrity … is an additional bridge too far, and … something more broadly we are seeing in public debate internationally.”

But the WA treasurer said the subsequent meeting with the commission went well.

The commission is set to hand down its final report into the GST deal by the end of the year.

A recently left-leaning state could be shifting back to the right, with Labor on the nose and One Nation tipped to win a by-election.

Voters in the safe Labor seat of Secret Harbour, south of Perth, will head to the polls on Saturday after long-serving MP and senior government minister Paul Papalia retired mid-term.

Support for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has been steadily growing in the Western Australian mortgage-belt seat.

And it could have longer-term implications for senior federal Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, whose marginal seat of Canning takes in the Secret Harbour electorate and is being openly targeted by One Nation.

“This is one of the first tests for One Nation, certainly in Western Australia, since their popularity in the polls seems to have risen,” political analyst and Notre Dame University executive dean Martin Drum told AAP.

“Last year they got four per cent of the statewide vote, but the polling’s more than quadrupling that now.

“I think they’ll win it comfortably.”

Labor has been dominant out west at both state and federal level in recent years, with a WA voter swing driving the party’s national victory in 2022.

But on the ground in outer-suburban Secret Harbour, a voter base of primarily young working families and blue-collar workers is vocal about their frustration with the major parties and a perceived lack of basic services.

Federal issues, the cost of living and housing supply are also front of mind.

“Everyone’s sick of the current state of politics at the moment,” construction worker Justin Small told AAP.

“We want a fresh change. We just want to be able to live easier and cheaper.

“Pauline Hanson and One Nation seem to be the obvious choice for a lot of people.”

Mr Small voted early for One Nation and its candidate, gym franchise owner Luke Herdegen.

He says he’s not concerned about the right-wing party’s controversial plans to slash immigration.

“That needs to be implemented in Australia to benefit more Australians,” Mr Small said.

“At the moment, true Australians aren’t being put first.”

Retired nurse Christine White is undecided who she’ll vote for, but it’s unlikely to be One Nation.

“I think they’re quite racist,” she said.

Ms White is also unimpressed with WA Labor, despite previously backing the party.

Community amenities, health, schools and help for the growing number of homeless people in the area were all top of her mind.

She is also angry that it has taken a by-election for WA Labor to commit funding to build the long-promised Karnup train station.

“We’ve been waiting for that for a long time,” she said.

Education assistant Hayley Taylor believes Labor is heading for defeat.

“There’s a big change coming, but I hope it doesn’t go One Nation’s way,” she said.

“They’re a bit too radical for me but they make a lot of valid points.”

Labor’s candidate Georgia Tree, who most recently worked for resources giant Woodside, has faced scrutiny over her connection to the electorate after it emerged she owns a home 60km away in inner-Perth.

A former Labor voter, Ms Taylor said she had cast an early vote for the Liberals.

“It comes down to the promises and delivering on them … Karnup Station was a massive thing,” she said.

“Another big thing was that the Labor candidate is not a true local.”

More than 15,000 people – or more than 40 per cent of registered voters in Secret Harbour – have already cast their ballots.

A Demos AU survey of 990 WA voters showed One Nation had strengthened its position ahead of the poll.

One Nation was up three per cent since June, running equal with the Liberals, with 21 per cent of the primary vote.

Support for the Liberals was down two per cent and backing for Labor was steady, with 33 per cent of the primary vote.

Professor Drum said One Nation’s performance in Secret Harbour would be of interest across the nation, particularly Victoria which has a state election in November.

One Nation is expected to soon announce a candidate to contest the seat of Canning at the next federal election.

Mr Hastie, considered a future Liberal leader, has vowed to defend the seat which he retained last year on a reduced margin of 6.5 per cent.

Australian shares are heading lower, after economists from major banks tipped sticky inflation would force the Reserve Bank to deliver higher interest rates.

The S&P/ASX200 fell 54.2 points by midday, down 0.59 per cent, to 9,073.6, as the broader All Ordinaries lost 59.3 points, or 0.63 per cent, to 9,279.5.

The move came after Wednesday’s hotter-than-expected July inflation print prompted ANZ economists to tip a Reserve Bank interest rate hike in November, while NAB’s were even more pessimistic.

“July CPI data showed inflation running hotter than the RBA expected in early August, and the RBA has repeatedly signalled in recent weeks that the Monetary Policy Board would act if upside risks to inflation were realised,” NAB chief economist Sally Auld said.

“The risk is biased towards an additional hike in November, especially if activity data shows resilience in coming months.”

Raw materials stocks weighed heavily, as BHP and Rio Tinto retreated after an overnight dip in copper prices.

Gold stocks were also in the red, as the precious metal continued to face resistance after a recent rally to trade near $US4,361 ($A6,449) an ounce.

Interest rate-sensitive sectors also dragged, with real estate trusts and IT stocks down 1.6 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively, while consumer cyclicals lost 0.7 per cent.

The drop in discretionary-spending stocks came as Wesfarmers recorded a 1.8 per cent fall in full-year profit to $2.87 billion, although there has been encouraging sales growth at Bunnings and Kmart so far in 2026/27.

The consumer staples sector tumbled 1.5 per cent, after strong results from Coles and Woolworths launched it four per cent higher during the previous two sessions.

The heavyweight financials sector was relatively stable, down 0.2 per cent, as CommBank and Westpac eked minor gains.

However, zooming out, the vertical has tumbled almost 10 per cent in August amid persistent housing and mortgage market concerns.

Elsewhere in earnings, Qantas defied a nearly 20 per cent net profit nosedive due to Middle East conflict disruptions to boost its share price 4.5 per cent to $9.64, thanks to strong passenger revenues and a resilient outlook.

Shares in Chemist Warehouse owner Sigma Healthcare tumbled 6.5 per cent after Australian sales growth missed forecasts. Still, GLP-1 weight-loss drug sales and network expansion drove a 22 per cent surge in bottom-line profit to $732.3 million.

The Australian dollar is buying 71.84 US cents, down from 71.79 US cents on Wednesday at 5pm.

The Aussie is still on par with June-highs after higher interest rate expectations put upward pressure on local bond yields.

Profits are booming for the owner of Chemist Warehouse since buying the pharmacy giant, backed by a boom in weight-loss drugs.

Sigma Healthcare, which rounded out its first financial year with Chemist Warehouse since completing the takeover in February 2025, grew its revenue by more than 15 per cent to $10.8 billion in the 12 months to June 30.

The growth was driven by new stores across its Australian and overseas networks and a 75 per cent sales surge in GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.

“GLP-1s have provided a structural tailwind, which we expect to continue,” chief executive Vikesh Ramsunder told an earnings briefing on Thursday.

And options for the drug are expected to continue to widen for customers.

“What’s interesting for me is when the oral dose will be registered in Australia – I truly believe that’s a real tailwind for the business,” Mr Ramsunder said.

“If the government puts it onto the PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme), which is obviously still being negotiated, and the oral dose comes into Australia, I think the market size starts to grow materially.”

Sigma posted a normalised net profit after tax of $732.3 million for 2025/26, up 23 per cent on the previous year, while reducing its debt to a still hefty $663 million.

There are now almost 660 Chemist Warehouse stores globally, including 560 across Australia, 75 in New Zealand and 18 in Ireland, which grew sales by 45 per cent and turned a profit for the first time.

Including Sigma’s other brands like Amcal, DDS and Guardian, it owns and runs nearly 1,000 pharmacies worldwide.

The company declared a final dividend of two cents per share, meeting its target to pay out between half and 70 per cent of the year’s bottom-line profit.

Despite the sales and earnings growth, the result was deemed mixed by market analysts, who had expected higher sales growth for the Australian business.

Sigma shares fell more than six per cent in morning trading to $2.66 before recovering to $2.73 heading into lunch.

Chemist Warehouse has delivered double-digit like-for-like sales growth for roughly a decade, and Mr Ramsunder said the group was targeting the same in the years to come.

“Our 2027 financial year agenda is clear: grow the network, drive operating leverage, enhance product differentiation and convert today’s platform into sustainable profit and cash generation,” he said.

Furthermore, as living costs continued to weigh on Australian households, prices would continue to be a strategic focus.

“We are a very value-centric, consumer-facing organisation, and we will remain the customer’s friend,” Mr Ramsunder said. 

“We’ll continue to be very competitive moving forward.”