ASX finishes higher as retailers advance; Sigma slumps on Boots talks

Updated June 10, 2026 — 5:43pm,first published June 10, 2026 — 5:18am

The Australian sharemarket closed higher on Wednesday as investors piled into consumer stocks, shrugging off the latest escalation in the Middle East and another tech sell-off on Wall Street.

Sigma Healthcare shares slumped after the owner of the Chemist Warehouse chain confirmed it was in talks to buy UK chemist chain Boots, which has put itself up for sale for £7.5 billion ($14.3 billion).

The S&P/ASX 200 finished up 49.1 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 8653.30, with eight of its 11 industry sectors in the green. The ASX fell by 0.2 per cent on Tuesday after recovering from a sharp sell-off in early trade. The Australian dollar was trading at US70.2¢.

US forces launched fresh strikes against Iran overnight in what US Central Command said were “self-defence strikes” following the downing of an American helicopter. Iran will leave no attack or threat unanswered, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X in response.

The latest hostilities imperil negotiations for a more lasting accord between the warring parties. Trump has repeatedly said that peace talks are on track, after a flare-up earlier in the week saw Israel and Iran exchange attacks.

Energy stocks were mixed, with oil prices erasing their gains as traders weighed the outlook for peace talks over the Iran war. Brent crude slipped to trade near $US91 a barrel after climbing as much as 2 per cent earlier in the session. West Texas Intermediate was fetching around $US88. Local oil and gas giant Woodside dropped 0.2 per cent, while Santos rose 0.5 per cent. Refiners Ampol and Viva Energy were up 0.3 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, alternative fossil fuel providers Yancoal and Whitehaven slumped, down 7.3 per cent and 4.4 per cent.

With uncertainty continuing, investors flocked to defensive consumer staples, pushing supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles up 3.2 per cent and 5 per cent respectively, while bottle shop owner Endeavour gained 5.4 per cent and dairy firm A2 climbed 4.4 per cent.

But discretionary retailers also advanced, with Wesfarmers up 4.3 per cent as it held its strategy day, in which it flagged plans to use AI to drive sales and earnings growth and elaborated on its plans to open stand-alone homeware and furniture stores. JB Hi-Fi gained 3.5 per cent and Harvey Norman jumped 4.4 per cent. Super Retail Group gained 5.4 per cent.

Consumer-related property trusts also benefited, with shopping centre landlords Scentre (up 1.6 per cent), Vicinity (up 2.4 per cent) and Stockland (up 2.9 per cent