Which ASX Stocks Showed Relative Strength as the Market Fell? Week Ending 2 September 2026
Updated: Oct 1
Written by Christopher Hall, AdvDipFP | Authorised Representative, AFSL 526688 | Updated October 2026
A stock that holds up or rises while the broader index falls is showing relative strength — and the week ending 2 September 2026 gives a dated, sourced instance of it. The S&P/ASX 200 (XJO) fell 1.65% that week and the All Ordinaries (XAO) fell 1.93%, and a set of liquid, established ASX stocks moved against that decline. Christopher Hall, Authorised Representative (AFSL 526688), names them, sources the figures, and explains why one much larger mover in the same dataset was deliberately left out.
A note on what this reading measures (read before the table). The figures below are each stock's rolling return for the week ending 2 September 2026 — not a single trading session. A future edition of this series, built from genuine daily close-to-close data for the day of a sharp market fall, will be a sharper read on relative strength than a weekly figure can give; this edition uses the best data available for the period and says so plainly rather than presenting a weekly number as a single day's move.
Remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all trading involves risk.
Which ASX Stocks Showed Relative Strength While the Index Fell?
A stock that rose, or fell less than the index, in the week the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.65% is showing individual relative strength — a stronger, more specific signal than a sector index doing the same, because it isolates one company's demand rather than a whole segment's. Several liquid, established names in this week's dataset met that test.
Table — selected liquid ASX stocks with a positive weekly return, week ending 2 September 2026 (index fell 1.65%):
ASX | Company | Weekly return (WRol) |
GNC | GrainCorp Limited | +18.09% |
DGT | Digico Infrastructure REIT | +6.77% |
IAG | Insurance Australia Group | +6.60% |
ELD | Elders Limited | +4.18% |
CPU | Computershare Limited | +4.20% |
ING | Inghams Group | +5.83% |
CGF | Challenger Limited | +3.67% |
TLS | Telstra Group | +3.01% |
SUN | Suncorp Group | +0.36% |
SNL | Supply Network | +0.14% |
Source: Iress — ASX stock price and rolling return data, week ending 2 September 2026, compiled weekly by Finer Market Points (see Sources). Table limited to established, liquid names from the dataset — sub-$1 microcap movers are excluded, for the reason set out below.
This list deliberately excludes the sub-$1 names in the same dataset that moved 20–90% in a single week. A stock trading at $0.30–$0.90 moving 50% is a 15–45 cent price change — well within normal bid-ask and liquidity noise for a thinly traded microcap, and not comparable evidence to a large, liquid stock like GrainCorp or Telstra moving several percent on genuine turnover. Relative strength is a demand signal; it needs enough liquidity for the move to reflect real buying, not a handful of trades repricing a stock with almost no volume.
Is Bapcor's 58% Weekly Move a Relative Strength Signal or a Catalyst Spike?
Bapcor Limited (ASX: BAP) rose 58.29% in the week ending 2 September 2026 — the largest single move in the entire dataset, and one this article does not treat as a relative strength example. A move of that size in a single week, in a stock that was not previously showing a gradual outperformance pattern, is the signature of a specific catalyst — an earnings result, a takeover approach, a guidance change — rather than the steady demand relative strength is meant to describe.
The distinction matters because the two look identical on a returns table and mean different things. Relative strength is a pattern read over multiple periods; a single-week spike of 58% is a headline event that this dataset alone cannot explain, and citing it as a relative strength example without confirming the underlying announcement would misrepresent what actually happened. A trader encountering a move this size should check the company's own ASX announcements before drawing any conclusion from the percentage alone.
Remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all trading involves risk.
Is GrainCorp's Relative Strength a Pattern or a One-Off?
GrainCorp Limited (ASX: GNC), which led this article's original relative-strength table at +18.09% for the week ending 2 September 2026, showed relative strength again on 8 September 2026 — rising 0.88% on turnover of roughly $14.9 million while the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.00% and the All Ordinaries fell 0.94% on the same day. A single strong week can be noise; a second, independently dated instance in the same direction — this one a genuine single trading day's decline rather than a weekly figure — is a small step toward the steady-demand pattern relative strength is meant to describe, though two data points remain a short read, not a confirmed trend. This is also the first reading in this series built from actual daily close-to-close prices — the sharper measure the original edition flagged as the intended future format.
Remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all trading involves risk.
Which Stocks Have Shown Relative Strength on Two Separate Down-Days?
Fourteen stocks that showed relative strength on 10 September 2026 — the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.03% and the All Ordinaries fell 1.04% that day — also showed relative strength two trading days earlier, on 8 September 2026, when the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.00% and the All Ordinaries fell 0.94%. Resolution Minerals (RML) posted the largest 10 September gain among the fourteen, and Sunrise (SRL) — the name that led the 8 September reading — extended its run with a second consecutive strong result.
Table — stocks showing relative strength on both 8 and 10 September 2026:
ASX | Company | 8 Sep 2026 | 10 Sep 2026 |
RML | Resolution Minerals | +2.44% | +13.21% |
FML | Focus Minerals | +4.35% | +9.17% |
BRN | BrainChip | +4.00% | +7.69% |
SRL | Sunrise | +21.19% | +7.43% |
CTD | Corporate Travel Management | +0.91% | +6.50% |
EXR | Elixir Energy | +1.45% | +5.26% |
MP1 | Megaport | +0.12% | +4.25% |
WAF | West African Resources | +0.26% | +2.91% |
TAH | Tabcorp Holdings | +1.68% | +2.72% |
KAR | Karoon Energy | +1.69% | +2.23% |
RSG | Resolute Mining | +1.05% | +1.43% |
AUC | Ausgold | +0.36% | +1.43% |
HLI | Helia Group | +0.19% | +1.36% |
A2M | The A2 Milk Company | +0.75% | +1.35% |
Source: Iress — ASX stock price and market value data, 8 and 10 September 2026 daily closes vs prior close, compiled by Christopher Hall, Finer Market Points. Table limited to names with market value traded above $250,000 on both days; moves of 30% or more are treated as catalyst spikes, not relative strength, and excluded.
Challenger Limited (CGF) recurs from the original 2 September weekly reading as well — +3.67% for the week ending 2 September, then +1.95% on 10 September — though on a different measurement basis (weekly versus daily), so it is noted separately from the fourteen-name daily-to-daily table above. Two appearances across separate market declines is a firmer instance of the steady-demand pattern relative strength is meant to describe than a single reading, though this remains a short read against the multi-week persistence CAN SLIM methodology looks for.
Remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all trading involves risk.
Which Stocks Have Shown Relative Strength Across Three Separate Down-Days?
The ASX has now fallen on four separate sessions inside a single fortnight — 2, 8, 10 and 11 September 2026 — and three names have shown relative strength on three of those four readings: Challenger (CGF), Corporate Travel Management (CTD) and Helia Group (HLI). A tight cluster of declines in quick succession is arguably a sterner test of relative strength than one isolated down day, because it asks whether a stock's demand holds up against repeated, not single, pressure.
Table — stocks showing relative strength on three of the four dated declines tracked in this series:
ASX | Company | 2 Sep (weekly) | 8 Sep | 10 Sep | 11 Sep |
CGF | Challenger | +3.67% | — | +1.95% | +2.92% |
CTD | Corporate Travel Management | — | +0.91% | +6.50% | +15.49% |
HLI | Helia Group | — | +0.19% | +1.36% | +1.15% |
Source: Iress — ASX stock price and market value data, 2, 8, 10 and 11 September 2026, compiled by Christopher Hall, Finer Market Points. The 2 September figure is a weekly reading; 8, 10 and 11 September are daily close-to-close readings. Table limited to names with market value traded above $250,000; moves of 30% or more are treated as catalyst spikes, not relative strength, and excluded.
Insurance Australia Group (IAG) and Suncorp (SUN) also recur — from the original 2 September weekly reading into the 11 September daily reading (IAG +6.60% then +4.23%; SUN +0.36% then +3.65%), a two-time pattern rather than three, but from the same insurance sector as Challenger, worth watching alongside it. Three appearances across four separate declines is the strongest persistence evidence in this series so far, though it remains a short sample against the multi-week confirmation CAN SLIM methodology looks for, and past appearances are no guarantee the pattern continues on the next decline.
Remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all trading involves risk.
Update — 15 September 2026: Megaport and A2 Milk Join the Three-Date Repeaters
Two further names — Megaport (ASX: MP1) and The A2 Milk Company (ASX: A2M) — have now shown relative strength on three separate dated declines this month, matching the persistence already logged for Challenger, Corporate Travel Management and Helia Group. On a fifth dated decline — 15 September 2026, when the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.88% and the All Ordinaries fell 0.84%, both below this series' usual >1% single-day threshold but included as a continuation of the same cluster of closely spaced falls (the same basis applied to the 11 September edition) — Megaport rose 2.69% and The A2 Milk Company rose 2.67%, each repeating a pattern first logged on 8 September and repeated again on 10 September.
Table — Megaport and A2 Milk on the three dated declines where each has shown relative strength:
ASX | Company | 8 Sep | 10 Sep | 15 Sep |
MP1 | +0.12% | +4.25% | +2.69% | |
A2M | The A2 Milk Company | +0.75% | +1.35% | +2.67% |
Source: Iress — ASX stock price and market value data, 8, 10 and 15 September 2026 daily closes vs prior close, compiled by Christopher Hall, Finer Market Points. Each reading in this series applies the same screen: same-day market value (turnover) above $250,000, with any single-day move of 30% or more excluded as a likely company-specific catalyst rather than a relative-strength signal — price level alone is never the filter.
This is a second, independent three-date cluster alongside Challenger (CGF), Corporate Travel Management (CTD) and Helia Group (HLI) — five names now, drawn from two different parts of the market (financials/travel services versus network infrastructure/consumer staples), each showing relative strength on three of the dated declines tracked in this series. Two unrelated sector groupings producing the same persistence pattern independently is some evidence the pattern is not confined to a single corner of the market, though five names across five reference dates remains a short sample.
15 September also produced the largest single-day overlap logged in this series to date: thirteen of the 44 names qualifying that day — including Megaport and A2 Milk — also showed relative strength on 8 September, alongside GrainCorp, Telstra Group, ResMed, JB Hi-Fi and eight others.
Remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all trading involves risk.
Update — 1 October 2026: EQ Resources and The Koala Company Join the Three-Date Repeaters
Two more names — EQ Resources (ASX: EQR) and The Koala Company (ASX: KOA) — have now shown relative strength on three separate dated declines, extending the persistence pattern first logged for Challenger, Corporate Travel Management and Helia Group, then for Megaport and The A2 Milk Company. On a sixth dated decline — 1 October 2026, when the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.99% and the All Ordinaries fell 1.95% — EQ Resources rose 5.95% and The Koala Company rose 4.49%, each repeating a pattern logged twice before.
Table — EQ Resources and The Koala Company on the three dated declines where each has shown relative strength:
ASX | Company | First reading | Second reading | 1 Oct 2026 |
EQR | EQ Resources | 8 Sep +5.48% | 15 Sep +11.69% | +5.95% |
KOA | The Koala Company | 10 Sep +4.45% | 15 Sep +4.71% | +4.49% |
Source: Iress — ASX stock price and market value data, 8, 10, 15 September and 1 October 2026 daily closes vs prior close, compiled by Christopher Hall, Finer Market Points. Each reading in this series applies the same screen: same-day market value (turnover) above $250,000, with any single-day move of 30% or more excluded as a likely company-specific catalyst rather than a relative-strength signal — price level alone is never the filter.
This is now a third independent three-date cluster — alongside Challenger/Corporate Travel Management/Helia Group and Megaport/A2 Milk — seven names in total, drawn from three unrelated parts of the market (financials and travel services; network infrastructure and consumer staples; and now mining and consumer retail), each independently showing relative strength on three of the six dated declines tracked in this series so far.
One name from the 1 October reading is worth explaining rather than counting. Betashares Australian Equities Strong Bear Complex ETF (ASX: BBOZ) also cleared this day's screen, rising 4.55% — but BBOZ is an inverse ETF, structurally designed to rise when the broader market falls. Its gain is the product doing exactly what it is built to do, not a relative-strength signal, for the same reason Bapcor's 58% weekly spike was excluded from the original edition: a move fully explained by something other than independent demand is not relative strength, however large the number.
Remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all trading involves risk.
Why Does Relative Strength During a Decline Matter for Momentum Trading?
Relative strength — a core concept in William O'Neil's CAN SLIM methodology — treats a stock holding firm or advancing while the broader index declines as a leading indicator of future outperformance, not merely a curiosity. The logic is straightforward: a stock still finding buyers on a week most of the market is selling has demonstrated a source of demand independent of the general market's direction, which is the same quality momentum traders look for in a prospective new leader.
This is the same concept examined in more depth, with a full 5-step screening framework, in Finer Market Points' relative strength guide — this article supplies one dated, worked instance of it; that one supplies the method. The sector-level version of the same reading, updated weekly, is tracked on the ASX sector divergence hub.
Conclusion
In the week ending 2 September 2026, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.65% and a set of liquid large- and mid-cap names, led by GrainCorp at +18.09%, rose against the tape entirely. Bapcor's 58.29% move sat in the same dataset but was excluded from that list, because a single-week spike of that size is a catalyst question, not a relative strength one. This edition is built from weekly data; a future edition built from a genuine single-session down day, using daily close-to-close prices, will be a sharper read and is the intended format going forward. The FMP Momentum Profile and the Finer Market Points weekly session recordings — where market conditions like those discussed in this article are reviewed in real time — are accessible to FMP YouTube Momentum Profile members.
This article draws on publicly available research data compiled for the Finer Market Points editorial program. The FMP Momentum Profile and the Finer Market Points weekly session recordings — where ASX momentum stocks and the market conditions covered in thematic articles like this one are reviewed in real time — are accessible to FMP YouTube Momentum Profile members. Members receive early access to the educational data that forms the basis of articles like this one. For information on FMP YouTube Momentum Profile membership, visit the FMP YouTube membership page.
Remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results, and all trading involves risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which individual ASX stocks showed relative strength this week?
Among liquid, established names in this week's dataset, GrainCorp (+18.09%), Digico Infrastructure REIT (+6.77%), Insurance Australia Group (+6.60%) and Inghams Group (+5.83%) posted the largest positive weekly returns against a market that fell 1.65%. Sub-$1 microcap movers were excluded from this comparison for liquidity reasons.
Why was Bapcor's 58% weekly gain excluded from the relative strength examples?
A single-week move of that size is most consistent with a specific company catalyst — an earnings result, a corporate action, a guidance update — rather than the gradual, demand-driven pattern relative strength describes. This dataset alone cannot confirm the cause, so the move is noted rather than presented as a relative strength example.
Is a weekly return a reliable way to measure relative strength during a market decline?
It is a reasonable proxy but not the sharpest available measure. A single trading session's close-to-close move, on the specific day the broader market falls sharply, isolates the signal more precisely than a rolling weekly figure, which can blend a strong single day with a weaker rest of the week. This series will move to daily data where it is available.
Is relative strength during a market decline a reliable signal on its own?
It is one input among several, not a standalone signal. William O'Neil's CAN SLIM methodology treats relative strength during weakness as a leading indicator of potential outperformance, but a single period is a short read — the pattern carries more weight when it persists across multiple periods and is confirmed by other momentum criteria.
How often is this ASX relative strength series published?
Ad hoc — a new dated edition is published when the broader ASX market (S&P/ASX 200 or All Ordinaries) falls by a significant amount over the period measured, rather than on a fixed weekly schedule. It is a separate series from the ASX sector divergence hub, which updates weekly regardless of market direction.
Which stocks have shown relative strength on three separate down-days in September 2026?
Two clusters, five names in total. Challenger (CGF), Corporate Travel Management (CTD) and Helia Group (HLI) each showed relative strength on three of the first four dated declines tracked in this series (2, 8, 10 and 11 September 2026). Megaport (ASX: MP1) and The A2 Milk Company (ASX: A2M) formed a second, independent three-date cluster after the 15 September reading, having also shown relative strength on 8 and 10 September.
About the Author
Christopher Hall, AdvDipFP, is an Authorised Representative (AFSL 526688) and the editorial lead at Finer Market Points, covering ASX-listed momentum stocks and market data for an Australian trading audience. Read more on the author's profile page.
Sources
# | Source | Type |
1 | Iress. ASX stock price and rolling return data, week ending 2 September 2026, compiled weekly by Christopher Hall, Finer Market Points. | Market data |
2 | O'Neil, W. How to Make Money in Stocks (2009) — relative strength as a component of the CAN SLIM methodology. | Published research |
3 | Iress. ASX stock price and market value data, 8 September 2026 daily close vs prior close, compiled by Christopher Hall, Finer Market Points. | Market data |
4 | Iress. ASX stock price and market value data, 10 September 2026 daily close vs prior close, compiled by Christopher Hall, Finer Market Points. | Market data |
5 | Iress. ASX stock price and market value data, 11 September 2026 daily close vs prior close, compiled by Christopher Hall, Finer Market Points. | Market data |
6 | Iress. ASX stock price and market value data, 15 September 2026 daily close vs prior close, compiled by Christopher Hall, Finer Market Points. | Market data |
7 | Iress. ASX stock price and market value data, 1 October 2026 daily close vs prior close, compiled by Christopher Hall, Finer Market Points. | Market data |
Related Finer Market Points Educational Resources
Why the Stocks That Fall the Least Are the Ones That Run the Hardest: Relative Strength as a Leading Indicator — Christopher Hall
ASX Sector Divergence — Christopher Hall
This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
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