ASX 200 stocks hitting fresh 52-week highs and lows – Week 43
Staples, utilities and energy grind to yearly highs as miners and beaten-up themes pile into fresh lows. Risk appetite is thin.
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Welcome back to the 52-Week Series, where we recap the S&P/ASX 200 stocks that hit fresh yearly highs and lows last 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
Materials: 0 Highs, 7 Lows
Industrials: 2 Highs, 3 Lows
Energy: 1 High, 3 Lows
Financials: 2 Highs, 2 Lows
Health Care: 2 Highs, 2 Lows
Technology: 1 High, 2 Lows
Discretionary: 0 Highs, 2 Lows
Real Estate: 0 Highs, 2 Lows
Telecommunications: 0 Highs, 2 Lows
Utilities: 1 High, 0 Lows
Staples: 1 High, 0 Lows
What does the data tell us
A defensive basket rises to a yearly high. A very defensive group of names grinded to 52-week highs, spanning staples (Woolworths), energy and utilities (Santos, APA Group), insurance (QBE), healthcare (Ansell and Fisher & Paykel) and the exchange operator itself, ASX. There’s the odd growth name in the mix. Electro Optic Systems actually traded lower last week despite landing its largest-ever contract, a £370 million (~A$700 million) deal to deliver a nationwide counter-drone defence system for Kuwait. Perhaps capex concerns are weighing? Data#3 also slipped slightly from record highs after its 1 October trading update guided to a more than 40% lift in 1H27 profit before tax, to above $46.9 million versus consensus of $39.1 million (a 20% beat). But the broader picture is defensives and energy pushing to yearly highs, highlighting a cautious market with very little appetite for risk.
An elevated low count. The ASX 200 rose 1.0% last week, yet 25 constituents (13%) still tagged a fresh 52-week low, with the average name down 5.6%. And surprise, surprise, the only sectors without a single yearly low were utilities and staples. The average stock hitting a fresh low was already down 41.5% over the past 12 months, so these are themes that were struggling well before last week, including autos (ARB Corp), uranium (Deep Yellow, Paladin and NexGen), wealth platforms (Hub24 and Netwealth) and REITs (Lendlease and Centuria).
Miners on the back foot. The materials sector is in the midst of an epic U-turn, falling as much as 15.6% between 26 August and 15 October. The S&P/ASX 200 Materials index is still up 8% year-to-date, but it’s not pretty for many of the sub-sectors, and that’s starting to show up in a relatively high count of 52-week lows. Chinese lithium carbonate futures have fallen 54% from their May peak of 209,880 yuan a tonne, closing at 96,320 yuan last Friday, and smaller/more speculative names like Vulcan Energy and Liontown have spiralled to fresh yearly lows. Iron ore is also soft, spending most of this month around the low US$90s, weighing on pure-play names like Fortescue and Champion Iron. Fortescue is also locked in a high-stakes standoff with China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG), the state-backed centralised iron ore buyer.
ASX 200 stocks at 52-week highs
Ticker | Company | Close | Sector | 1 Week | 1 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Electro Optic Systems | $9.40 | Industrials | -7.2% | 63.8% | |
Data#3 | $13.53 | Technology | -2.5% | 54.1% | |
Woolworths Group | $41.20 | Staples | 4.1% | 53.7% | |
Santos | $9.11 | Energy | 3.9% | 44.2% | |
Ansell | $46.17 | Health Care | 2.3% | 37.5% | |
QBE Insurance Group | $25.71 | Financials | 2.2% | 27.2% | |
Fisher & Paykel | $39.51 | Health Care | 2.9% | 26.0% | |
APA Group | $11.23 | Utilities | 2.4% | 24.0% | |
ASX | $62.48 | Financials | 2.3% | 7.5% | |
Cleanaway Waste | $2.47 | Industrials | -10.5% | -7.1% |
S&P/ASX 200 stocks and sectors that hit a 52-week high last week, sorted by one-year returns. Data as at Friday, 16 October 2026.
ASX 200 Materials stocks at 52-week lows
S&P/ASX 200 Materials constituents hat hit a 52-week low last week, sorted by one-year returns. Data as at Friday, 16 October 2026.
Other ASX 200 stocks and sectors at 52-week lows
Ticker | Company | Close | Sector | 1 Week | 1 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ARB Corporation | $16.95 | Discretionary | -3.8% | -53.2% | |
Eagers Automotive | $18.16 | Discretionary | -0.2% | -42.8% | |
Deep Yellow | $0.82 | Energy | -16.3% | -56.4% | |
Paladin Energy | $7.32 | Energy | -12.8% | -17.2% | |
Nexgen Energy | $12.39 | Energy | 0.9% | -7.1% | |
Netwealth Group | $16.57 | Financials | -4.4% | -49.8% | |
Hub24 | $64.15 | Financials | -2.4% | -45.9% | |
Mesoblast | $1.99 | Health Care | -0.5% | -31.6% | |
Sonic Healthcare | $18.57 | Health Care | -0.4% | -13.1% | |
Droneshield | $1.56 | Industrials | -0.3% | -67.9% | |
Silex Systems | $3.71 | Industrials | -7.5% | -54.0% | |
Worley | $9.31 | Industrials | -1.4% | -33.5% | |
Lendlease Group | $2.39 | Real Estate | -3.6% | -57.0% | |
Centuria Capital | $1.13 | Real Estate | -3.0% | -51.6% | |
NextDC | $9.18 | Technology | -11.5% | -43.2% | |
Weebit Nano | $2.88 | Technology | 2.9% | -29.4% | |
Nine Entertainment | $0.65 | Telecommunications | -3.7% | -46.1% | |
Chorus NZX | $6.63 | Telecommunications | -2.1% | -18.8% |
All other S&P/ASX 200 stocks and sectors that hit a 52-week low last week, sorted by sector and one-year returns. Data as at Friday, 16 October 2026.
