Middle East war nerves ease, but tech jitters resurface | The Business | ABC NEWS

The Australian share market had its best week since October 2022, on hopes a two-week Middle East ceasefire holds and Iran will remove its almost total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. For the week, the ASX 200 index finished 4.4% higher at 8,961. Forager Funds founder and chief investment officer, Steve Johnson says the Australian share market is holding up relatively well because of composition of the index. "I think people are looking at the overall market and saying it's not down that much, I don't understand this, there's a war going on?" He said. "We actually have quite a few companies that are benefiting from high energy prices; coal stocks, oil stocks, big commodities players and generally our larger companies have the capacity to pass on prices to consumers."
Steve Johnson says "the index is not the economy." He tells Alicia Barry nerves about AI disruption in the tech sector have resurfaced. "I'd say it's come back to the fore this week, people are thinking maybe this war's going to end, what do I need to worry about next?" ... We've seen this 'apocalypse' come back and there have been a few new models out from Meta and Anthropic this week so that concern has come back." As for the outlook for the market as the Middle East conflict continues, Steve Johnson says investors need to get used to uncertainty.
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