Afternoon Report | ASX flat; US seizes Iran ship
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Why did the ASX remain flat despite tensions in the Middle East?
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report for Monday the 20th of April 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 go with story number one, the S&P ASX 200 closed up less than and 0.1% higher today, up just six points to 8,953 points.
But it opened much lower than that after a flare-up in tensions in the Middle East over the weekend when the Strait of Hormuz was declared open, then closed again, triggering a surge in oil prices. So the expectations weren't great for the market opening this morning, but it did recover ground throughout the morning to close pretty much flat at the end of the day. Energy stocks were weaker despite that spike in oil with Woodside Energy down nearly 3% and Santos off 1.3%. Financials were mixed. Commonwealth Bank, for instance, was up 1%, but National Australia Bank dropped more than 3%. after flagging a sharp rise in bad debt provisions linked to the conflict.
What factors are causing a decline in support for One Nation?
Consumer stocks led the gains. Wesfarmers was up nearly 2.5% today, alongside Coles up 1.2% and Woolies up nearly 2% as analysts lifted earnings forecasts on rising food prices. On to story number two now, and support for One Nation and its leader, Pauline Hanson, has fallen from recent highs as voters seemingly shift their focus back to economic management. The latest Resolve political monitor in nine newspapers shows the party's primary vote dipping to 22%, while a separate news poll in the Australian newspaper has it down from a peak of 27% earlier this year to 24%. The shift comes amid rising cost of living pressures and fuel prices, of course, with economic management moving back to the centre of political debate.
Support for the major parties in those polls remains largely unchanged, with Anthony Albanese still leading Angus Taylor as preferred Prime Minister. Story number three, there is a little bit of relief on Australia's fuel supply outlook. Viva Energy says its Geelong refinery expects to return to more than 90% capacity within weeks after last week's major fire. The blaze last Wednesday took hours to bring it back under control, but damage was largely contained to one unit used in petrol production, with most of the refinery still operational.
How is the Geelong refinery recovering after the recent fire?
It is a critical piece of infrastructure. The facility supplies about half half of Victoria's fuel and around 10% nationally. The quicker than expected recovery though is helping to stabilize concerns around shortages, even as global supply remains under pressure from the Middle East conflict. Story number four, while we're on the topic of fuel, new data shows just how dramatically fuel prices are really reshaping the economics of driving. Research in The Australian today shows electric vehicles are now costing as little as $0.02 per kilometre to run in Melbourne compared to more than $0.24 per kilometre for diesel utes like the Ford Ranger or the Toyota Hilux. Now, that gap has perhaps unsurprisingly widened pretty sharply as fuel prices have surged.
Petrol is up nearly 37% since January. Diesel has jumped almost 70%. And that means that some households are now paying up to $250 a month on fuel or more compared to roughly $60 for EV owners.
What impact do rising fuel prices have on electric vs petrol vehicle costs?
And finally, story number five, US President Donald Trump says US forces have intercepted and seized an Iranian flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman after it ignored repeated warnings in breach of its blockade of Iranian ports. The US Navy disabled the vessel by firing into its engine room before boarding it with Marines now in control of the ship. The president says the ship is under US Treasury sanctions due to a history of, I quote, illegal activity and Iran has labelled the move armed piracy and has warned of retaliation. The incident further complicates already fragile ceasefire talks and raises the risk of yet another escalation just days before the current ceasefire is due to expire. And that is it for the afternoon report for Monday, the 20th of April.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
Why did the ASX remain flat despite tensions in the Middle East?
0:03–1:03
2
What factors are causing a decline in support for One Nation?
1:03–2:27
3
How is the Geelong refinery recovering after the recent fire?
2:27–3:30
4
What impact do rising fuel prices have on electric vs petrol vehicle costs?
3:30–4:30
Speakers
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