By Timothy Moore
Publication Date: 2026-02-12 17:30:00
The Australian stock market fell on Friday as fears of AI-driven overinvestment and disruption at software companies sparked broad selling.
The S&The P/ASX 200 index fell 125.90 points or 1.4 percent to 8917.60, with nine of the 11 sectors lower. The benchmark gained 2.4 percent over the week.
Concerns that AI could erode software companies’ margins have caused the ASX technology sector to lose 23 per cent of its value last month. WiseTech Global fell 10.4 percent to $42.62 on Friday. Xero by 4.5 percent to $73.49 and TechnologyOne 7.1 percent to $20.17.
Lochlan Halloway, market strategist at Morningstar, said the so-called “SaaSpocalypse” has been building for months, with AI threatening every variable in the SaaS model: seats, modules and price.
“Some software companies, particularly those that sell off-the-shelf tools with shallow integration, face a real existential threat,” he said. “Now if one person can do the work of two, the number of seats will decrease… And if the price of…
