Australian shares are now expected to advance this morning, with the tipped 0.2% gain to push the local index within a hair’s breadth – or one percentage point – of the all-time closing high it last set back in mid-February this year.
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This mirrors Wall Street, where surprisingly strong U.S. job numbers saw the S&P 500 defy red futures to close up fewer than three points away from its own all-time high.
There had been fears in New York that Trump’s trade war had shaken things; not so, in the end.
There’s always something else from the President, though — Trump is now on the verge of implementing a directive that will bump up steel and aluminium tariffs to 50% (from 25%) today. That could well impact Oz sentiments.
Before we get to that, though, there’s already company news: Westpac (ASX:WBC) is being sued by ASIC for “widespread misconduct” in its RAMS loans division.
And, eyes on Virgin Australia as it prepares to finally list on the ASX; owner Bain Capital has committed to a listing after nearly three years. They’re looking to raise $685 million.
Elsewhere, HotCopper forums darling Strike Energy (ASX:STX) has found a new commander in Peter Stokes, who will step up as managing director and CEO from next week. The incoming Mr Stokes was last CEO at Capital Limited.
The forums are also watching Miramar (ASX:M2R) after it spotted new Whaleshark targets.
More market news
Forget U.S. tariff talk: Aussies just got a worrying signal from the ABS
Meet GeoGeorge: The HotCopper poster so accurate he got hired as an analyst
Looking at forex, the Aussie dollar is buying 64.6 US cents.
To commodities, which are all in the greenback,
Iron Ore has fallen another -0.8%, to $94.40 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is trading at $65.68,
Gold is trading at $3,361 per ounce, and,
US natgas futures are at $3.72 per gigajoule.
That’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre, stick with us for HotCopper’s Market Update.
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