Australia's major corporates are issuing profit warnings as the Iran-linked Middle East conflict drives fuel costs sharply higher, compressing margins across transport, banking, and consumer sectors. Qantas and Westpac are among the companies signaling earnings pressure, with Qantas exposed directly through jet fuel costs and Westpac flagging deteriorating customer financial conditions. The combination of accelerating input costs and weakening demand creates a stagflationary dynamic, the scenario central banks are least equipped to handle, since rate hikes that combat inflation simultaneously deepen the growth slowdown. Business and consumer sentiment have fallen in tandem, tightening the policy trap for the Reserve Bank of Australia. If fuel prices remain elevated, the RBA faces a binary problem: tolerate above-target inflation or risk choking a softening economy with further tightening. Watch for whether the profit warning cycle broadens beyond transport and financials into retail and logistics, and whether the RBA adjusts its forward guidance at its next meeting in response to the externally driven cost shock.
Indian startups raised $5.2 billion across 501 deals in H1 2026, down 9% in value but up 7% in deal count year-on-year, per the Inc42 Indian Tech Startup Funding Report. The drop is driven by fewer mega-rounds, while AI funding surged 317% and growth-stage deal activity hit a multi-year high.
The BSE Sensex fell 893 points and the Nifty 50 shed 279 points on June 30, 2026, wiping out roughly Rs 6 lakh crore in investor wealth in a single session. Both indices dropped 1.16%, closing at 76,200.68 and 23,824.10 respectively.
Kotak Mahindra Bank shares fell nearly 3% to Rs 397.6 after CEO Ashok Vaswani announced plans to exit the bank. Investor concern now centres on succession timing and whether the bank's ongoing digital and deposit-growth strategy will stay on track.
South Korea's Kospi dropped 3% at Monday's open while Japan's Nikkei fell 1%, as escalating US-Iran conflict triggered a broad risk-off move across Asian markets. South Korea's heavy reliance on Middle East oil imports makes it especially vulnerable to geopolitical shocks of this kind.
