SYDNEY, Feb 24, 2026, 18:31 AEDT — After-hours
- Xero (ASX: XRO) dropped 4.6% on Tuesday, lagging behind as the broader market barely moved.
- Australian tech stocks remained under pressure this day, and software names took some of the heaviest hits.
- Wednesday brings fresh inflation numbers, with traders also tracking upcoming earnings updates this reporting season.
Xero Ltd (ASX: XRO) finished Tuesday down 4.6% at A$71.84, slipping to A$71.45 during the session. The Wellington-headquartered accounting software company’s market cap stands around A$12.2 billion.
The S&P/ASX 200 barely budged, closing at 9,022—a dip of just 0.04%—after briefly dipping under the 9,000 mark earlier in the day.
Timing’s in focus for traders. Major software names have been weighing on the market, and once again, Xero finds itself pulled into the debate over how to value growth stocks when sentiment sours.
The S&P/ASX 200 Tech Index slipped around 3% in the afternoon session. Shares in TechnologyOne lost 4.5%, WiseTech Global dropped 3%, and Xero, at its lowest, traded down roughly 3.7%. Market Index flagged a heavy calendar for Wednesday, with WiseTech and Woolworths among those set to deliver results.
Wall Street’s recent dip, Tony Sycamore of IG said, shows investors scrambling yet again to identify who might get hit next by the AI shakeup—likening the hunt to a frantic game of “whack-a-mole.” On Wednesday, Australia drops its January monthly consumer price index (CPI) figure at 11:30 a.m. AEDT. That inflation readout has the potential to jolt both rate expectations and valuations on future earnings. ig.com
Xero put out a market update Monday, detailing several key dates for FY27, which wraps at the end of March 2027. The company scheduled its annual meeting for Aug. 27. Half-year numbers are due Nov. 12, with full-year results following on May 20, 2027. Director nominations close July 9.
Reuters reports the company targets small businesses with its suite of cloud-based solutions for accounting, payroll, and payments. Its portfolio features brands such as Planday, Hubdoc, Syft, TaxCycle, and Tickstar.
Yet risks still linger. Software names worldwide have taken a beating, with investors weighing how fast AI might erode pieces of the stack; IBM’s U.S. shares dropped 13% on Monday after Anthropic announced its Claude Code tool can modernise COBOL systems.
Xero usually rebounds alongside the sector when tech selling slows down. But if the pressure on tech continues, it’s often the first to take a hit as investors trim positions—still caught in the crossfire of the ongoing debate over growth and valuation.
The big date for Xero is May 14, when it’s set to report FY26 full-year numbers for the period ending March 31.
