Afternoon Report | ASX up, inflation jumps, gold falls
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Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report for Wednesday, the 24th of June, 2026. I'm Michael Thompson. 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. The local share market edged higher today, ending a four-day losing streak after a mixed inflation report Left investors a little uncertain about what the Reserve Bank is going to do next on interest rates. The S&P ASX 200 rose 0.2% today to 8,808 points. The monthly inflation figures from the ABS showed headline inflation eased to 4% in May. That was below expectations, helped by lower fuel prices, but underlying inflation climbed to 3.6%, reinforcing concerns that these price pressures do remain stubborn.
On the Bourse, technology stocks led the gains, recovering from heavy selling earlier in the week. Xero jumped more than 8%. WiseTech Global surged 14% as investors bought back into the stock after some heavy losses recently. Healthcare stocks were also in demand. CSL climbed 2.6% as investors really started to favor more defensive sectors. Energy and mining stocks lagged. Woodside and BHP both finished lower today as oil and gold prices weakened. Story number two, speaking of gold, the price of the precious metal fell for a second straight session as investors shifted money into US dollars and reassessed the outlook for global interest rates. The gold price slipped below US$4,070 an ounce, extending losses after a sharp decline earlier in the week.
A stronger US dollar and rising expectations at central banks might keep rates higher for longer have reduced demand for gold. The move comes despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty. It follows a broader pullback across markets. What we've been talking about for some time, investors questioning whether this year's technology-led rally has run too far. Analysts, though, say that gold is increasingly trading in line with bond yields and interest rate expectations rather than doing what gold traditionally does, which is act as a safe haven asset. Story number three, a Qantas flight from London to Perth has made an unscheduled stop in the WA Pilbara after stronger than expected headwinds left the aircraft needing additional fuel to complete its journey.
This is flight QF10. It diverted to Karratha Airport about 1,500 k's north of Perth after weather conditions forced the the last minute changes to its flight path. It is a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It spent about an hour on the ground refueling before continuing on to Perth. The reason why this story is so significant though, is because it comes hot on the heels of Qantas unveiling its plans for its ultra long haul project sunrise flights between Sydney and London, which obviously is even longer than going from Perth to London. It shows some of the challenges of operating these extremely long routes that changing weather somewhere along the route can have a major effect then on flight planning and fuel consumption.
Story number four, Today Show presenter Carl Stefanovic is under fire after a podcast interview with controversial British activist Tommy Robinson. was removed from Stefanovic's channels just hours after publication. The far-right extremist Robinson was a guest on Stefanovic's independent podcast. This is separate to his Today Show work with Channel 9. And on the podcast, Robinson said that Australians are losing their culture, that traditional values are under attack, and Stefanovic told him that he admired Robinson's tenacity and courage after the podcast was taken down. It then resurfaced on Pauline Hanson's YouTube channel under the comment, it looks like they're trying to sack my good friend Carl Stefanovic for this video with Tommy Robinson.
Nine Entertainment has stressed today that the podcast is an independent production and said it had no involvement in guest selection or editorial decisions but confirmed it was taking the matter seriously. The controversy has attracted attention from the activist group Mad F-ing Witches and
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