Australian Shares Flat; Woodside Energy Group Takes Over Operational Control of Texas Ammonia Facility

Australian shares were flat on Thursday's close as hopes rose of a potential de-escalation in the conflict in the Middle East.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed to close at 8,525.70.

Iran said it was reviewing a US ceasefire plan for the conflict in the Middle East, Reuters reported. The US earlier sent a 15-point ceasefire proposal to Iran. Brent crude rose 1.8% to $104.02 per barrel.

On the domestic front, A sharp reduction in the global supply of oil, natural gas, and other commodities, as well as heightened geopolitical and economic uncertainty globally due to the conflict in the Middle East, implies a tighter stance of monetary policy for a given cash rate, according to a speech by Christopher Kent, the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) assistant governor of financial markets. The supply shock also poses a risk to inflation and longer-term inflation expectations at a time when there are ongoing capacity pressures in Australia.

Australia's total household wealth rose 2.5% to AU$18.848 trillion in the December 2025 quarter, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Business confidence in Australia fell 4 points to negative 4 in the first quarter, reversing gains made through 2025 and dropping to its lowest level since December 2024, with sentiment weakening across nearly all industries except mining, National Australia Bank said.

In company news, Woodside Energy Group (ASX:WDS) took over the operational control of the Beaumont New Ammonia facility in Texas, after the completion of performance testing and handover from OCI Global. A 20% residual payment was completed on the assumption of operational control under Woodside's September 2024 acquisition of OCI Clean Ammonia Holding. Its shares rose 2% on market close.

Washington H. Soul Pattinson (ASX:SOL) reported fiscal first-half earnings of AU$6.289 per share, up from AU$0.983 a year earlier. Revenue for the six months ended Jan. 31 was AU$818 million, compared with AU$493 million a year earlier. Its shares closed up 1%.

Lastly, Shares of Newmont (ASX:NEM) fell 2% on market close, while those of Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) inched down 0.3% and Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) fell over 1%, as the price of gold steadied at around $4,500 per ounce after rising for two days.