Welcome back to the 52-Week Series, where we recap the S&P/ASX 200 stocks that have hit fresh yearly highs and lows over the past week. Tracking this data point helps identify emerging trends across various stocks and sectors.

When clusters of stocks within a sector reach new highs or lows, it often points to meaningful underlying drivers such as shifting commodity prices, changing demand patterns (such as AI, pivots into defensive sectors, consumer weakness etc), or companies beating/missing earnings expectations.

52-Week highs and lows by sector

  • Financials: 3 Highs, 0 Lows

  • Materials: 0 Highs, 2 Lows

  • Industrials: 0 Highs, 1 Low

  • Utilities: 0 Highs, 1 Low

  • Energy: 0 Highs, 1 Low

  • Real Estate: 0 Highs, 1 Low

  • Discretionary: 0 Highs, 0 Lows

  • Health Care: 0 Highs, 0 Lows

  • Technology: 0 Highs, 0 Lows

  • Staples: 0 Highs, 0 Lows

  • Telecommunications: 0 Highs, 0 Lows

What Does the Data Tell Us?

  • The quietest week yet. This is one of the thinnest lists we've seen in months as the ASX keeps grinding in choppy fashion. Strong runners like energy and materials have pulled back sharply in recent weeks while defensives like healthcare, staples and discretionary have bounced hard. Though miners rallied last Friday just as healthcare rolled over. So some very dicey moves out there. The S&P/ASX 200 finished 0.4% lower last week, opening with a four-day losing streak before a 0.5% bounce on Friday. This remains a market that tests your conviction at almost every turn. If you were betting on miners, year-to-date returns for the S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index tumbled from a peak of 22% on 17 June to just 6% by 9 July.

  • Financials eke out some highs. Not much of a read-through here. Challenger extended a strong uptrend (up 43% since 13 March), Macquarie kept riding tailwinds across its commodities, asset management and capital markets divisions, and QBE Insurance benefited from the recent bounce in bond yields.

  • Stocks off lows. Same story with the lows, where a lot of the old culprits have stabilised and caught a bid, including discretionary (HVN, JBH, TPW, IEL), various REITs, communications (SEK, REA) and tech (WTC, XRO). The names still making lows are largely catalyst driven, including:

    • Austal: Bell Potter slashed its target price to $4.10 (from $6.30) last week, citing a record $17.7bn order book against elevated execution risks as it ramps up multiple complex US steel shipbuilding programs and expands in Henderson, WA.

    • PEXA Group: IPART's draft report proposed a steeper than expected cut to ELNO transfer fees of roughly 20%, or about $70m in revenue, driven mainly by a lower initial asset base than brokers had modelled. Management pushed back on the assumptions and is arguing to phase any reduction over four years rather than one. The stock fell 21.2% on Friday, 3 July and has continued to trend lower.

    • Pantoro Gold: FY26 gold production of 77.4koz missed April guidance of 86,000-92,000oz by around 10%, hit by contractor underperformance, seismic issues at depth and labour shortages, prompting an operational review and management changes alongside revised guidance. Analysts saw the challenges as cyclical and flagged the valuation discount as an improved entry point. The stock fell 10.1% last Thursday to $1.98.

ASX 200 stocks at 52-week highs

TickerCompanyCloseSector1 Week1 Year
CGFChallenger$10.58Financials2.4%28.9%MQGMacquarie Group$254.49Financials1.1%13.4%QBEQBE Insurance Group$25.47Financials2.6%11.0%

S&P/ASX 200 stocks and sectors that hit a 52-week high in the past week, sorted by one-year returns. Data as at Friday, 10 July 2026.

ASX 200 stocks at 52-week lows

TickerCompanyCloseSector1 Week1 Year
PXAPexa Group$8.10Real Estate-5.2%-36.5%ASBAustal$3.72Industrials-11.2%-36.2%ORAOrora$1.39Materials0.4%-35.1%PNRPantoro Gold$2.09Materials-12.6%-31.7%DYLDeep Yellow$1.45Energy-2.0%-18.1%ORGOrigin Energy$10.47Utilities1.1%-11.6%

S&P/ASX 200 stocks and sectors that hit a 52-week low in the past week, sorted by one-year returns. Data as at Friday, 10 July 2026.