Australian shares retreated on Monday's close as the conflict in the Middle East continued to intensify.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.65% or 55.30 points to close at 8,461.
The Houthi militant group in Yemen entered the conflict in the Middle East, the US moved military personnel into the region, and Iran struck aluminium smelters in Bahrain and the UAE. Brent crude futures jumped 3% to $115.53 per barrel, while spot gold fell 0.9% to $4,454.67 per ounce. The prices for aluminum rose 5% on the London Metal Exchange.
On the domestic front, the consumer stress index in Australia rose to 59.1 in the March quarter from 59 in the fourth quarter of 2025 amid elevated prices for groceries and utilities, National Australia Bank said. The bank's consumer sentiment survey for the first quarter showed Australian households facing increasing pressure from rising costs of living and persistent inflation.
Australia card activity in Westpac-issued cards showed that fuel disruptions are starting to impact spending as the Westpac-DataX Card Tracker Index softened slightly in the first three weeks of March, falling 0.4 points to 153.6 in the week ending March 21.
In company news, Ampol's (ASX:ALD) shares rose nearly 1% on market close, while those of Viva Energy Group (ASX:VEA) climbed over 1%, both reaching their highest points in over a year, after the Australian government halved the fuel excise on petrol and diesel for three months from Wednesday.
DroneShield (ASX:DRO) opened its new headquarters in Europe in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with the headquarters to be led by its Chief Commercial Officer, Louis Gamarra. Its shares closed up 1%.
The technology systems of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA), Westpac Banking (ASX:WBC, NZE:WBC), and ANZ Group Holdings (ASX:ANZ, NZE:ANZ) could be at risk as up to 200 staff members at DXC Technology plan to go on strike from Tuesday and escalate to a 24-hour strike on Thursday, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported. A CBA spokesperson said the bank does not anticipate any impact on its services as a result of the planned industrial action by DXC employees. Shares of ANZ closed down 1%, those of Commonwealth Bank declined 2%, and Westpac's shares fell 4%.