ASX 200 stocks hitting fresh 52-week highs and lows – Week 44
The ASX 200 is up for October, but miners are down almost 20% from their peak as money rotates into staples, health care and financials.
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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, 12 Lows
Financials: 5 Highs, 2 Lows
Industrials: 1 High, 2 Lows
Technology: 0 Highs, 2 Lows
Health Care: 3 Highs, 1 Low
Energy: 1 High, 1 Low
Discretionary: 0 Highs, 1 Low
Real Estate: 0 Highs, 1 Low
Telecommunications: 0 Highs, 1 Low
Staples: 2 Highs, 0 Lows
Utilities: 1 High, 0 Lows
What Does the Data Tell Us?
Miners out, defensives in: The ASX 200 is up a modest 1.7% so far this month (1-23 Oct), but the headline number masks some serious carnage and rotation underneath. The Small Ords is down 7.4% over the same stretch, while Materials and Tech sectors have tanked 9.5% and 4.9% respectively. If miners feel awfully bearish right now, that’s because they are – the sector is now just shy of 20% below its 25 August record high. On the flip side, money is piling into the defensive pockets of the market, with Staples, Health Care and Financials rallying 8.1%, 7.6% and 6.8% this month. The 52-week highs list reflects that posture, with insurers, healthcare and staples names leading the count. Meanwhile, the number of miners hitting fresh yearly lows keeps climbing – 12 this week, up from 7 a week ago and 5 the week before. Miners tied to the weakest commodities were the first to crack, including iron ore (Fortescue and Champion Iron), lithium (Vulcan Energy, Liontown, PLS Group, IGO and Elevra) and rare earths (Lynas). The encouraging part is that outside the mining rout, the 52-week lows list has somewhat thinned out, with former laggards across industrials, fund administrators, classifieds and software starting to lift off their lows.
ASX 200 stocks at 52-week highs
Ticker | Company | Close | Sector | 1 Week | 1 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Santos | $9.05 | Energy | -0.7% | 43.2% | |
Challenger | $11.92 | Financials | 21.0% | 35.8% | |
QBE Insurance | $26.50 | Financials | 3.1% | 29.7% | |
ASX | $66.06 | Financials | 5.7% | 15.4% | |
Insurance Australia Group | $8.92 | Financials | 4.1% | 9.1% | |
Suncorp Group | $20.39 | Financials | 4.1% | 1.0% | |
Ansell | $46.27 | Health Care | 0.2% | 35.0% | |
Fisher & Paykel | $39.68 | Health Care | 0.4% | 24.0% | |
CSL | $196.70 | Health Care | 2.3% | 10.6% | |
Cleanaway Waste Management | $2.99 | Industrials | 21.1% | 17.3% | |
Woolworths Group | $41.75 | Staples | 1.3% | 54.9% | |
Coles Group | $24.55 | Staples | 2.7% | 6.0% | |
APA Group | $11.52 | Utilities | 2.6% | 25.2% |
S&P/ASX 200 stocks and sectors that hit a 52-week high last week, sorted by sectors and one-year returns. Data as at Friday, 23 October 2026.
ASX 200 Materials stocks at 52-week lows
Ticker | Company | Close | 1 Week | 1 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Vulcan Energy Resources | $1.04 | -11.9% | -79.1% | |
Iperionx | $1.78 | -14.7% | -74.4% | |
Champion Iron | $2.21 | -7.1% | -54.2% | |
Liontown | $0.64 | -9.9% | -39.3% | |
Lynas Rare Earths | $10.71 | -3.3% | -32.3% | |
Fortescue | $14.27 | -6.1% | -31.1% | |
Firefly Metals | $1.23 | -12.8% | -27.9% | |
PLS Group | $2.62 | -12.1% | -14.9% | |
Alcoa Corporation | $53.92 | -9.2% | -11.3% | |
IGO | $4.77 | -12.3% | -11.2% | |
Nickel Industries | $0.65 | -5.8% | -9.7% | |
Elevra Lithium | $3.40 | -15.2% | -8.4% |
S&P/ASX 200 Materials constituents hat hit a 52-week low last week, sorted by one-year returns. Data as at Friday, 23 October 2026.
Other ASX 200 stocks and sectors at 52-week lows
Ticker | Company | Close | Sector | 1 Week | 1 Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nick Scali | $12.65 | Discretionary | -12.6% | -43.8% | |
Deep Yellow | $0.68 | Energy | -17.7% | -57.0% | |
Zip | $1.46 | Financials | -32.7% | -64.4% | |
Magellan Financial Group | $7.34 | Financials | -13.2% | -27.2% | |
Mesoblast | $1.78 | Health Care | -10.8% | -30.7% | |
Silex Systems | $3.22 | Industrials | -13.2% | -67.6% | |
Atlas Arteria | $3.70 | Industrials | -2.4% | -24.0% | |
Region Group | $2.26 | Real Estate | 2.7% | -8.5% | |
NextDC | $5.61 | Technology | -38.9% | -64.8% | |
Weebit Nano | $2.37 | Technology | -17.7% | -56.3% | |
Chorus | $6.63 | Telecommunications | 0.0% | -18.0% |
S&P/ASX 200 stocks and sectors that hit a 52-week low last week, sorted by sectors and one-year returns. Data as at Friday, 23 October 2026.
