Australia's Westpac falls to four-month low as half-year profit misses estimates

Westpac Banking

05/05/2026 03:19

Updates

** Shares of Westpac Banking Corp WBC.AX fall as much as 2.2% to A$37, hitting their lowest level since January 8

** Stock marks its weakest intraday trading session since April 14

** The bank reported first-half net profit attributable of A$3.41 billion ($2.44 billion), missing Visible Alpha consensus of A$3.47 billion

** Company warned the Middle East conflict was pressuring customers through higher energy prices

** Citi says NIM was aided by by liquid assets, indicating a slight miss on core NIM vs brokerage's expectations

** UBS, however, says company shows pockets of underlying franchise strength

** NIM for H1 slipped 3 basis points to 1.89%

** Company declared interim dividend of 77 Australian cents/share

** Stock up 15.4%, YTD

($1 = 1.3955 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri and Aamir Sheik Khalid in Bengaluru)

 ((shivangi.lahiri@thomsonreuters.com; Aamir.SheikKhalid@thomsonreuters.com))