Sydney, Feb 26, 2026, 18:21 AEDT — Market closed.
- Xero ended sharply higher on Thursday, extending a two-session rally in beaten-down ASX tech.
- Australian IT stocks outperformed after Nvidia’s results helped reset the tone for global tech. (Yahoo Finance)
- Xero’s next scheduled update is its FY26 full-year results on May 14. (Xero)
Xero Limited (ASX:XRO) share price closed up 8.6% at A$82.30 on Thursday, after trading as high as A$83.16. The stock is still down about 54% over the past year. (StockAnalysis)
The jump came as Australian tech stocks tracked Wall Street and helped lift the S&P/ASX 200 to a record intraday high, even as investors kept one eye on inflation and the interest-rate path. Interest-rate swaps — derivatives used to price policy expectations — imply an 82% chance the Reserve Bank of Australia holds in March and about a 70% chance of a hike in May, a Reuters report showed. (Business Recorder)
That rate debate has sharpened this week. Australia’s consumer price index, a broad measure of inflation, rose 3.8% in the year to January, unchanged from December, the statistics bureau said on Wednesday. (Australian Bureau of Statistics)
On Thursday, the S&P/ASX 200 technology index rose 4.7% and was up about 11% over the last two sessions, MarketIndex data showed. WiseTech Global and Megaport were among the sector names higher. (Market Index)
Xero also put out fresh small business data on Thursday, saying sales at Australian small firms rose 6.7% from a year earlier in the December quarter, while jobs growth ran at 3.4% — both the strongest in about two years. “The momentum we saw in December will be tested,” Xero economist Louise Southall said, pointing to the RBA’s February rate hike. (Xero)
In New Zealand, Xero said sales growth hit a three-year high in December, with quarterly sales up 4.8% from a year earlier. “This is the clearest evidence we’ve seen in several years that momentum is starting to return,” Bridget Snelling, Xero’s country manager for Aotearoa New Zealand, said. (Xero)
The broader tech mood improved after Nvidia reported a 73% jump in revenue to about $68 billion and forecast roughly $78 billion for the current quarter, the Associated Press reported. Chief executive Jensen Huang said AI demand was “skyrocketing”. (AP News)
But the rate backdrop is still the risk case. Commonwealth Bank economists said headline inflation was stuck at 3.8% while underlying pressure edged higher as housing and electricity costs lifted — the sort of mix that can keep bond yields elevated and cap growth-stock rallies. (CommBank)
For Friday’s session, traders will also have one more test of the market’s appetite for risk as earnings season rolls on. IG market analyst Tony Sycamore wrote the ASX’s break above “resistance” — a chart level traders watch — could still prove a “false breakout” if the index slips back below 9,110-9,100. (IG)
For Xero, the next hard catalyst is its FY26 full-year results on May 14, covering the year to March 31. The company’s key-dates release flagged that changes to the timetable would be notified to the ASX. (announcements.asx.com.au)
