![\"MT](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6f87a07c3c0735907624b33783488411.png\")
MT Newswires -Shutterstock <\/p>\n MT Newswires -Shutterstock <\/p>\n
Australian shares plunged at Monday’s close as oil soared amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The S&P\/ASX 200 Index plummeted 2.85%, or 252 points, to close at 8,599, a 50-day low.<\/p>\n
Oil prices jumped almost 30%, nearing $120 per barrel, in the wake of disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz due to the ongoing Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n
On the domestic front, the value of new payment platform transactions in Australia rose nearly 24% to AU$232.3 billion in January, compared with AU$192.1 billion in the same period last year, according to new retail payment figures from the Reserve Bank of Australia. Total card purchases on Australian-issued cards were up 10% to AU$98 billion from AU$89.1 billion in January 2025.<\/p>\n
In company news, Dyno Nobel (ASX:DNL) agreed to sell its Phosphate Hill fertilizer business to Mayfair Australia subsidiary Ryowa II GPS for a nominal consideration of AU$1. The sale also involves a deferred consideration of up to AU$100 million, subject to certain conditions and meeting performance hurdles. Shares of the firm fell 10% on market close.<\/p>\n
Shares of Karoon Energy jumped 10% while those of Santos (ASX:STO) and Woodside Energy Group (ASX:WDS) rose 2% on market close. Surging oil prices fueled gains in the energy sector despite broader market concerns over inflation and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Lastly, Digico Infrastructure REIT (ASX:DGT) said that Chief Executive Michael Juniper will step away from his duties for an extended period to focus on family and a personal matter. Chris Maher will serve as interim CEO to maintain business continuity. Its shares were down 7% on market close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MT Newswires -Shutterstock Australian shares plunged at Monday’s close as oil soared amid the escalating conflict in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,133109,124741,262574,44,183],"class_list":["post-528311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-shares","tag-dyno-nobel","tag-market-close","tag-news","tag-reserve-bank-of-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}