ASX Market Close: Inflation surprise as bourse inches higher | August 27, 2025

The ASX200 lifted just under a third of a percent higher today after inflation rose much higher than expected. Monthly CPI rose 2.8 per cent in the year to July, higher than the 2.3% markets had expected. The bigger number was driven by a spike in electricity and housing costs.

Materials was the best performing sector, followed by Utilities, Health Care and Discretionary.

Staples was by far the worst performing sector, followed by IT and Telecommunication.

In the Green

Nine Entertainment (ASX:NEC) climbed higher after booking full-year revenue of $2.68 billion for FY25, up 2% on the prior year, with group EBITDA of $486 million, down 6%.

Karoon Energy (ASX:KAR) was in the green approaching close after chalking up higher production in the first half of 2025, offset by lower sales volumes and prices, resulting in a mixed financial performance.

Adairs (ASX:ADH) hit a home run on release of its FY25 results. The company its group sales came in at $618.1 million, a 6.5% increase over FY24.

In the Red

Domino’s Pizza (ASX:DMP) has a wipe-out today after investors dumped the stock in response to the company’s FY25 results. The company reported a 0.9% decline in network sales to $4.15 billion and a 4.6% decline in EBIT to $198.1 million.

DroneShield (ASX:DRO) was hammered today, despite the company reporting a spectacular 210% increase in revenue to $72.3 million and EBITDA of $5.2 million. Clearly, the result did not meet investor expectations.

And, Woolworths (ASX:WOW) was slaughtered today after lacklustre results disappointed investors. The company booked a 3.6% increase in group sales to $69.1 billion, but this was offset by a 17.1% decline in group net profit after tax to $1.38 billion. The board slashed the final dividend by 21.1% to a fully franked 45 cents per share.