Afternoon Report | ASX flat as results flood market
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Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report for Tuesday, the 18th of August 2026. I'm Michael Thompson, and every afternoon we've got the five stories that happened today that you need to know about. Let's jump straight into story number one, because it is all about markets. The SP ASX 200 finished just three points lower today at 9,070 points. But below the surface, it really was a pretty Eventful day, investors working their way through a huge number of company results and some big moves as well. Healthcare was the standout sector. CSL surged more than 17% today after forecasting a return to underlying earnings growth, despite posting a $3.7 billion annual loss.
Away from healthcare, Australia's biggest company, BHP, rose almost 3% after announcing its biggest dividend in four years, helped by booming copper prices. Energy stocks also gained as oil pushed above $90 a barrel. Some extraordinary moves elsewhere as well. Reliance Worldwide jumped 25% today after Brookfield sweetened its takeover offer. Equity trustees gained 22%. On a bid from TPG, Judo Capital rallied 17% after reporting a near 30% jump in profit. It wasn't all good news going the other way. Hub-24 lost 7%, SIMS dropped 11%, EML payments plunged 17%. A very big, very, really very volatile day. Story number two, one from Canberra now. One nation wants to slash the tax on cigarettes by 75% in an attempt to undercut Australia's booming illegal tobacco market.
Party leader Paul Anne Hansen says the tax has failed, handing a multi-billion dollar market to organized crime while government revenue collapses. The proposal would cut the tax on a packet of cigarettes by nearly $30 and freeze indexation for three years. Australia's tobacco commissioner estimated late last year that at least half of all tobacco consumed in Australia was coming from the black market, generating criminals more than $4 billion in profit. Nationals leader Matt Canavan has supported cutting the excise, but he did describe today One Nation's proposal as a thought bubble, questioning just how much it would cost the budget. Story number three, the banking regulator is now happy with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.
Today it imposed license conditions on Bendigo and Adelaide Bank after finding, quote, long-standing and pervasive weaknesses in the bank's non-financial risk management framework. On top of this, APRA was not happy that the bank had failed in its previous efforts to deliver a sustainable improvement on those weaknesses. Said the banks did not have clear or reliable risk controls, and despite years of work to improve and warnings from the regulator, its weaknesses have persisted. A fifty million dollar capital penalty will remain in place on the bank. Its share price fell more than five percent today. Story number four: several Sydney Swans players are facing suspensions of at least two matches over their conduct in Melbourne early on Monday morning, according to the biggest.
Nine media. Nine reports the AFL is preparing to deal with the players under its rule covering conduct unbecoming or likely to damage the reputation of the competition after several players went out drinking and returned to the team hotel in the early hours. Now, this AFL action is separate from a Victoria police investigation into an allegation of sexual assault at the hotel. No player. has been arrested, and Nine says that the players uh that it has named in reports today are assisting police with inquiries rather than being under investigation. Any multi-game suspensions would extend into the finals, with Sydney already guaranteed to finish second and host a qualifying final. And finally, story number five: how about this one?
Out of the U.S., millions of American drivers are being warned to park recalled cars outside because they could catch fire even when they're switched off. The Washington Post reports an estimated 3.2 million vehicles in the U.S. Currently, they have an outstanding park outside recall. Seventeen recall campaigns covering about 1.7 million vehicles were announced in the first seven months of this year alone.
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