Sydney, Feb 7, 2026, 17:27 (AEDT) — Market shut its doors for the session.
- Woolworths slipped roughly 0.5% to finish Friday at A$31.45.
- ASX 200 dropped 2%, with banks and miners taking the brunt of a widespread selloff.
- Woolworths’ earnings in February are shaping up as the next big catalyst investors are watching.
Woolworths Group Ltd finished Friday at A$31.45, slipping A$0.16 as the Australian market lost ground late in the session. Shares ranged from A$31.40 up to A$32.11. 1
The S&P/ASX 200 slid 2.03% to 8,708.80, with the decline hitting nearly every sector and investors now turning their attention to overseas signals heading into next week. 2
Australian shares took a broad hit, according to a Reuters market report, as investors pulled back from resource stocks amid weaker commodity prices and a sweeping decline in equities worldwide. “Global risk sentiment weakened sharply overnight as investors rotated out of high-multiple and cyclically-exposed sectors,” Marc Jocum, senior product and investment strategist at Global X ETFs, told Reuters. The ASX volatility gauge—a proxy for expected swings—spiked 21%, the report noted. 3
Coles Group shares slipped 0.4% to close at A$21.66 on Friday, tracking a defensive stance, though investors offloaded more than just their favorites in the session. 4
No new price-sensitive filings from Woolworths hit the ASX on Friday. The latest company announcement listed by the exchange was posted Jan. 29. 5
Not much on the news front, so action in WOW has been tracking broader risk sentiment rather than anything company-driven. Basically, shifts in the index, moves in commodities, or tech swings offshore can give a supermarket stock like this a nudge—even when its cashflows appear relatively solid.
Woolworths faces the same old questions. Price sensitivity remains high among shoppers, and whenever promotions, wage hikes, or supply-chain pressures eat into margins, the market is quick to punish the shares.
The bullish argument isn’t complicated: when investors get defensive, supermarkets often pick up flows from those searching for safety. Friday, shares dropped—but not as much as the wider market. In choppy conditions, that outperformance stands out.
Defensives don’t get a free pass when funds cut risk aggressively. Should the global retreat worsen or local earnings guidance falter, “staples” might end up as an easy place to raise cash instead of a haven.
Woolworths lines up its half-year numbers for Feb. 25, with a third-quarter update scheduled just over two months later, on Apr. 30, per the shareholder calendar. 6
