Australian shares slipped off their all-time peak on Tuesday, dragged down by biotech major CSL’s steepest fall in more than 17 years after it announced job cuts and plans to spin off its influenza vaccine division.
The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.6% points to 8,905 points by 0047 GMT.
It had ended Monday at a record high.
The benchmark gauge briefly pulled back from the 8,900-point level during the session as CSL’s annual results triggered a 5.2% selloff in healthcare stocks.
Shares of CSL, the world’s second largest producer of flu vaccines, slipped as much as 11.2% to A$241.05 after it announced plans to demerge its unit, CSL Seqirus, by the end of June 2026 and to lay off up to 15% of its workforce.
Meanwhile, investors failed to cheer the 14% rise in CSL’s annual profit and the announcement of an A$750 million ($487 million) buyback starting fiscal year 2026.
Energy stocks lost 1.6%, dragged by top energy players Woodside and Santos. Woodside shed 1.3% to A$26.54 after reporting a 24% drop in first-half profit.
Meanwhile, Santos slumped 3% to A$7.72 on flagging that Abu Dhabi’s National Oil Company (ADNOC)-led international consortium will not be able to finalise an $18.7 billion takeover bid before the extended August 22 deadline.
It also deferred its interim results to August 25 from August 20.
Bucking the trend, miners added 0.1%, helped by global miner BHP’s 0.7% gains.
On Tuesday, BHP posted its smallest annual underlying profit in five years and announced its lowest dividend in eight years.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose marginally to 12,983.16 points. Meanwhile, the country’s producer prices rose in the second quarter, per official data.
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