After posting a new record high earlier in the month, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) closed up 1.1% in August, with plenty of help from a basket of surging ASX 200 stocks.

Below we look at five of the best large-cap ASX shares to have bought at market close on 31 July and held through to 31 August.

And all but one of our top performers have something in common.

Can you guess what it is?

Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX: WGX)

Westgold Resources shares surged 34.7% in August, closing the month at $6.37.

The ASX 200 gold stock was supported in part by a resurgent gold price. The yellow metal ended August trading for US$4,450 per ounce. That saw the gold price up 10% over the month, according to data from Bloomberg.

Westgold also released a number of positive exploration and resource updates over the month. And the miner reported its full-year FY 2026 results on 28 August.

Highlights included record revenue of $2.33 billion, up 79% year-on-year. And underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) of $480 million was up 452%.

Regis Resources Ltd (ASX: RRL)

Regis Resources shares leapt 36.3% in August to end the month trading for $8.30 each.

Regis also will have benefitted from the rising gold price.

And the ASX 200 stock released some strong FY 2026 results on 21 August.

Regis Resources reported a 43% year on year increase in gold sales revenue to $2.35 billion. And on the bottom line the miner achieved a record NPAT of $715 million, up 181% from FY 2025.

CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL)

Moving away from ASX gold shares, for a moment, CSL shares also shot the lights out in August.

Shares in the ASX biotech giant closed August trading for $171.57 each, up 39.4% for the month.

CSL shares got a big lift on 18 August after the company released its FY 2026 results.

The company reported a 1% year-on-year decline in revenue to US$15.8 billion. And underlying NPATA of US$3.1 billion was down 2%.

But investors were favouring their buy buttons amid a rosier outlook for FY 2027.

Following what they labelled a ‘reset year’, management said they steady revenue in FY 2027, with underlying NPAT forecast to grow by around 5%.

Vault Minerals Ltd (ASX: VAU)

Moving back into the gold space, Vault Minerals shares soared 39.8% in August, ending the month at $6.67 a share.

On 20 August, Vault Minerals also spurred investor interest after it released some strong FY 2026 results.

Highlights included a 31% year on year increase in revenue from metal sales to $1.88 billion. And Vault achieved a statutory NPAT of $278.4 million.

Which brings us to…

Genesis Minerals Ltd (ASX: GMD)

The fifth ASX 200 stock you would have done well to buy and hold throughout August is Genesis Minerals.

Shares in the Aussie gold miner closed out the month trading for $8.22, up a whopping 44.0% in August.

Genesis Mineral released its FY 2026 results late in the day on 20 August.

The company reported an 89% year on year increase in sales revenue to $1.74 billion. And the miner’s underlying NPAT was up 147% to $547 million.

The post The 5 best ASX 200 stocks to buy and hold in August revealed appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Top 3 ASX shares to buy in September 2026
• CSL shares are up more than 40% in a month. What just happened in the US?
• 5 things reporting season taught ASX investors about FY27
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Tuesday
• Where will CSL shares be in 12 months? Brokers weigh in

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended CSL. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended CSL. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

Superannuation has had an excellent run of late, and a rate rise this month would be the first real test of it.

The Reserve Bank of Australia meets on 29 September. Morgan Stanley expects a hike, which would be the first move higher in this cycle.

Most Australians will not think about what that means for their retirement savings. But given the implications, this question is worth five minutes of your time.

How your superannuation has actually performed

The average superannuation fund did well in FY26.

Chant West estimates the median growth fund returned around 9% in FY26, making it a fourth consecutive year of strong returns.

International listed shares did most of the heavy lifting.

Every asset class delivered a positive return over the year with the single exception of Australian real estate investment trusts.

It’s important to compare this performance to two broadly-held ASX market ETFs.

Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS) tracks the S&P/ASX 300 Index across 321 securities for a fee of 0.07% a year.

The fund returned 5.79% over the year to 31 July 2026 and 8.92% annually across the past decade.

Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF (ASX: VHY) is far more concentrated, holding 92 companies led by Commonwealth Bank, BHP Group and the other major banks.

Its forecast yield is 4.2%, or 5.5% once franking credits are counted, and it returned 17.87% over the year to 31 July 2026.

What a rate rise would actually do

The Reserve Bank held the cash rate at 4.35% on 11 August.

Its statement left little doubt about the direction of future interest rates.

The Board will continue to do what it considers necessary to bring inflation sustainably back to target, including increasing the cash rate target further if upside risks materialise.

However, not everyone agrees the move comes this month.

For example, Westpac chief economist Luci Ellis sees November as the more likely date.

A hike would hit a superannuation fund in three places.

Bond prices fall when yields rise, so the defensive part of your portfolio takes an immediate mark-to-market hit.

Australian real estate investment trusts and infrastructure assets are repriced lower, because their long-dated cash flows are worth less.

Bank shares face slower credit growth and higher deposit costs, and they are a very large part of the local index.

The parts of your superannuation that would hold up

Not everything suffers.

Cash and term deposit allocations earn more, which helps anyone in a conservative or pension-phase option.

Similarly, resources companies are largely driven by commodity prices rather than domestic rates.

And then there are global equities, which are the biggest single driver of most balanced funds, and which respond to United States policy far more than Australian policy.

What I would not do

Switching your superannuation to cash ahead of a possible rate rise is the classic mistake.

You crystallise any loss, you miss the recovery, and you have to be right twice to come out ahead.

For investors who care about long-term returns, time in the market is much more important than timing the market.

Foolish takeaway

A September rate rise would trim returns, not wreck them.

Bonds and rate-sensitive Australian shares would take the hit, while cash and global equities would cushion it.

If your superannuation sits in a default balanced option and you have twenty years to run, the correct response is almost certainly nothing at all.

If you are drawing an income and are heavily weighted toward bank shares, it may be worth checking your allocation.

Either way, the decision should reflect your time horizon, which is usually much longer term than a single rate decision.

The post Could a September rate hike hurt your superannuation returns? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why I think the VAS ETF is a top pick for beginners and experienced investors
• Are these 2 top Vanguard ETFs still worth buying today?
• How to build an ASX portfolio you do not need to check every day
• VGS vs VHY: Which Vanguard ETF comes out on top?
• How many Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (VAS) units do I need to buy for $10,000 of passive income?

Motley Fool contributor Mark Verhoeven has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended BHP Group and Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

DUG Technology Ltd (ASX: DUG) has had an unremarkable year from a share price performance point of view, returning just 3% over the past 12 months.

But the team at Shaw and Partners is predicting bigger things for the company this year, and has a bullish price target on the shares, which I’ll get to shortly.

Shares fall on soft order book

The company’s shares fell more than 20% when they released their FY26 results recently, despite the company delivering a solid set of figures.

The oilfield software and services company’s revenue from customers came in at US$86.4 million, up 38% from the previous year, while net profit of US$2.6 million was up from a loss of US$4.4 million.

Commenting on the result, Managing Director Dr Matthew Lamont said:

FY26 was a record year for DUG. Revenue grew 38% and normalised EBITDA grew 78%, lifting our margin to 32% from 25%. We returned to profit and generated US$20.9 million of cash from operations. Earnings grew at twice the rate of revenue, which shows the operating leverage in this business. These results come from a long period of through-the-cycle investment rather than a single good year. Intellectual property is the centre of everything we do, and we now monetise it in four ways: services, software, HPC and multi-client. They are not separate businesses, they are different ways of selling the same core technology. We saw all of them perform extremely well during FY26 and we’re excited about the future of each business.

Dr Lamont said the industry was busier than it had been in years, with high oil prices driving increase in exploration budgets.

He added:

That means exploration in harder places, where imaging quality decides whether a prospect is drillable, which is precisely the problem we built our technology to solve. We enter FY27 within an energised industry, with a large pipeline of opportunities, a contracted software and HPC base, and a growing multi-client library. We’re excited for what lies ahead.

Broker says shares are looking oversold

Shaw and Partners noted that the company’s forward order book of US$33.6 million was down 35% year on year, but said that management attributed this largely to timing.

They added:

Management stressed that unlike previous periods when a falling order book created concern, internally there is currently optimism, with projects remaining in the pipeline rather than being lost and significant acquired seismic data still to flow into processing.

Shaw and Partners has a price target of $3 per share on DUG, which is significantly above the current share price of $1.63. The company is valued at $223.7 million.

The post Shaw and Partners says this ASX software company could rise 84% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Expert names 2 ASX tech shares to buy today
• DUG Technology share price sinks 22% on FY26 results
• DUG Technology scores US$9.3m software and HPC contract

Motley Fool contributor Cameron England has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Dug Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.