The Australian sharemarket ended October higher, but the gains came from the market’s defensive corners. The S&P/ASX 200 closed at 8,908.1 on Friday 30 October, up 1.4% for the month, according to The Bull, and the ABC reported the index finished the week 1.78% higher.

Where the money went

The Bull’s sector figures for October show a clear rotation:

  • Utilities led with a 10.35% gain, followed by financials (+9.24%) and healthcare (+9.03%).
  • Materials fell 6.04% and information technology fell 2.85%.

The broader All Ordinaries rose only 0.6% for the month, although it held above 9,000. The ASX 200 was up 2.07% for the year to date, while the All Ords was marginally negative, down 0.12%, reflecting weakness among smaller companies. The Bull also noted the ASX 200 had reclaimed its 200-day moving average, currently around 8,830.

The final session

Friday itself was a tale of an early rally fading. The index rose as much as 1% to a seven-week high before closing up 16.3 points, or 0.2%, as a sell-off in US technology stocks weighed on sentiment. The Australian Financial Review reported that more than $US500 billion was wiped from Google owner Alphabet’s market value overnight on fears that artificial intelligence is eating into its advertising business, the biggest one-day fall in the company’s history. Chipmaker Intel fell 22% in late US trading after its revenue forecast missed estimates.

Locally, consumer discretionary stocks rebounded 2.73%. Reece jumped 8.44% to $17.09 after a strong trading update and JB Hi-Fi rose 6.21%, while Coles fell 7.67% to $21.66 after its first-quarter sales update. Rio Tinto fell 1.8% to $147.31 after halting underground operations at its Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia, where a seismic event triggered a rockfall that injured three workers, Small Caps reported.

The backdrop

At about 4.35pm AEDT on Friday, the ABC recorded the Australian dollar at 70.34 US cents, Brent crude at $US116.03 a barrel, spot gold at $US4,005 an ounce and iron ore at $US90.75 a tonne.

The week ahead brings the Reserve Bank’s decision on Tuesday 3 November, where all four major banks expect a rise in the cash rate to 4.85%, and Reuters reported that financial stocks had been bid up ahead of bank earnings next week. The Bull summed up the month as a market “rotating defensively while holding above key technical levels”, one that “demands careful attention”.

Sources: The Bull (30 October 2026); ABC News markets blog (30 October 2026); Australian Financial Review (30 October 2026); Small Caps (30 October 2026); Reuters, via Business Recorder (30 October 2026).