Afternoon Report | ASX up 0.5pc as oil falls
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Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report for Wednesday the 17th of June 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 get going with story number one.
What factors contributed to the ASX rise and oil price drop?
The S&P ASX 200 rose 0.5% today to 8,967 points, its highest level since April. Investors are seemingly encouraged by signs that the Strait of Hormuz could fully reopen by Friday and easing concerns about energy supplies and inflation pressures. To that point, Brent crude actually fell today to a three-month low, near US$79 a barrel, extending what has now been a sharp four-day decline. Locally, the tech stocks led the gains. WiseTech Global was up more than 4%, 0%, 3.5%. BHP hit another record high, rising 0.6% today. Gold stocks also did well. Travel stocks, though, they surged after the federal government eased travel warnings for several Middle Eastern countries. Web travel jumped more than 11%.
SiteMinder was up more than 10%. FlightCenter rose more than 5% despite lowering its profit guidance. Energy stocks, perhaps unsurprisingly, were the weakest performers because of those falling oil prices. Woodside dropped more than 3.5%. And Karoon Energy slumped more than 13% today. On to story number two now, and Pauline Hanson has launched an attack on Guardian Australia journalist Sarah Martin during a pretty fiery exchange at the National Press Club today. The One Nation leader was taking questions after a wide-ranging speech when Martin asked her about the employment of Hansen's daughter, Lee Hansen, who works as a political advisor to a New South Wales One Nation senator while also campaigning in Tasmania as well.
Martin asked whether Hansen had played any role in securing the position for her daughter. Hansen denied any involvement in the appointment, saying that Lee Hansen secured the role on her own merits. She then went on, though, to accuse the journalist of running a long-running campaign against her, One Nation, and against Gina Reinhart, the mining billionaire, describing Martin as a trashy journalist and threatening to refuse future interviews. Now, Pauline Hanson's speech covered a number of key policy areas for One Nation, which are increasingly being scrutinised, with the polls currently showing the party leading on primary vote and with Hanson in front as preferred prime minister. We'll take a much closer look
at the policy arguments made during the speech in tomorrow morning's episode. On to story number three, now in the succession battle inside the Fox family empire has taken another twist with Linfox founder, Lindsay Fox, moving to install independent chairs across key parts of the business. In an internal memo to staff, Fox announced that his eldest son, Peter Fox, would step down as executive chairman of Linfox Logistics Australia and New Zealand, as well as Linfox International. The move is being presented as part of a broader governance overhaul, although it does come amid some long-running tensions between Peter Fox and his brothers, Andrew and David, over succession plans for the family's transport, property, and aviation interests.
This is a very big business. Peter Fox will remain a director of Lynn Fox and continue as chairman of Armour Guard and Now, Lindsay Fox, who is now 89 years old, he founded the company back in 1956 with a single truck. Today, the family fortune is estimated at almost $5 billion, with Lynn Fox generating annual revenue of around $4 billion. Story number four, radio host Kyle Sanderlands has reached a multi-million dollar settlement with ARN Media. This brings to an end one of the more damaging disputes in I'd have to say, in Australian radio. ARN will pay Sanderlands just a touch over $12 million in cash, including $3 million next month and the balance in installments through to mid-2029. The broadcaster had originally sought around $85 million after ARN terminated his contract in March.
As part of this new agreement, ARN will provide $1.5 million worth of advertising support for Sanderlands' new media venture over three years.
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