Afternoon Report | Oil prices surge, ASX flat
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Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report for Tuesday, the 14th of July, 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 cracking. Story number one, something you don't see every day, the market closed at exactly the same point it was yesterday. 8,808.5 points. That's not to say there wasn't movement during the day. At one point, the market was down almost 0.6%, but gains in energy and mining stocks offset weakness in the banks and property sector. Oil prices surged after further strikes in the Middle East, and US President Donald Trump announced a renewed blockade on Iranian ships using the Strait of Hormuz,
More on that a little bit later. Locally, the energy stocks led the gains. Karoon Energy rose almost 4%. Woodside climbed 3% to a one-month high. Ampol added more than 2%. All four big banks finished lower, while property stocks also fell as investors kind of reassessed the outlook for global interest rates.
Why did the ASX close exactly flat and which sectors drove intraday swings?
Mining stocks recovered from early losses. BHP and Fortescue both ended higher after iron ore prices climbed above $100 a tonne. Onto story number two, very much linked to story number one, because there's a bit of corporate news around today. Genesis Minerals and Volt Minerals have agreed to a $12.6 billion merger that will create one of Australia's largest gold producers. We've been talking a bit about this over the last week or two. Combining their West Australian operations to now form a company targeting the 600,000 to 700,000 ounces of annual gold production. Light and Wonder shares jumped 8% after the gaming company reaffirmed its 2026 financial year guidance. It was actually the best on the bores today.
And private equity giant KKR has joined the consortium pursuing a potential takeover of insurance broker Steadfast. Story number three, corporate travel management is in talks with the UK government this week as it fights to avoid insolvency and return to trading on the ASX. The Financial Review has this story today, suggesting that the travel company is seeking approval to repay around £95 million or about £180 million. odd million Aussie dollars through a payment plan after admitting that it overcharged the British government for hotel bookings during the pandemic. Corporate travel shares have been suspended since last August. While auditors reviewed its accounts, it now has until the end of this August to lodge its financial statements or face automatic delisting from the ASX.
Story number four, the latest radio ratings out today and they show a bit of a mixed result for the commercial radio industry with ARN's newly networked Gold shows losing audience share in Australia's biggest markets. In Sydney, Smooth FM extended its lead as the city's number one station while Ben Fordham remained the highest rating breakfast host overall on Talk Station 2GB. Gold's Christian O'Connell and Jonesy and Amanda both lost listeners and as did Kiss FM overall in the wake of Kyle and Jackie O's departure. Meanwhile, in Melbourne, 3AW's Ross Stevenson and Russell Howcroft held the breakfast crown, as usual, while Nova's Jason Lauren remained the top FM breakfast team. Just quickly, Brisbane has a new number one station, B105, overtaking Triple M. Nova continues to dominate in Perth.
Triple M remains comfortably on top in Adelaide.
How did the surge in oil prices and Middle East strikes affect energy and mining stocks?
As for the ABC, the national broadcaster saw some audience gains in Sydney and in Melbourne, but it remains a long way off the pace. Finally, story number five, President Donald Trump says the US will impose a blockade on Iranian shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, as I mentioned earlier, but it is going to charge all other commercial vessels a 20% fee for safe passage. Trump says the US will become what he called the guardian of the Hormuz Strait, arguing that the fee is needed to cover the cost of protecting international shipping. As you know, the Strait carries a significant share of the world's oil and gas exports and oil prices climbed.
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