Market Open: Deep breath after very chaotic Week 4; gold the story today | Jan 23

ASX today − We’re heading into a quiet Friday in Australia, at least at open, as traders take stock of what’s been a pretty chaotic week with Trump’s puffed-up Greenland tariffs posturing, the big Davos moot, mixed unemployment prints Down Under, and the resurgence of the “Sell America” thematic.

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One can only hope Trump chills out a bit − which is exactly what JD and I mused on the HotCopper Wire yesterday − but no one’s sure he can.

And so, hesitancy Down Under. That said, our tipped six-point swing is a lot less than Wall Street’s green day, where the S&P 500 advanced +0.5%, and the Nasdaq had that beat again, +0.9%, so U.S. investors seem happy.

Those doubts have worked out great for bullion and the Aussie buck, though; both hit milestone markers today, with the AUD ticking up to a 15-month high at 68.4c (to the USD) and gold now beyond US$4.9K/ounce.

We may yet follow Wall Street higher, but that’s a little unlikely.

Now, that said − let’s peep some company news as we head into the weekend.

ASX stocks to watch

First up, we’ll be watching all gold explorers and producers across the ASX today after bullion prices ticked over $4.9K/ounce. Some have had tough weeks to date, especially Pantoro (ASX:PNR), which lost -12% yesterday, and Emerald (ASX:EMR) and Northern Star (ASX:NST), both -8% on Thursday.

Elsewhere, though in the same thematic, Rox Resources (ASX:ROX) heralded a “transformative quarter” to investors in its Q2 reporting. The gold explorer’s now expecting to hit Youanmi’s historic main in late March.

And, Noronex (ASX:NRX) is progressing Etango North works, bringing in drilling contractors to test multiple uranium targets at the Namibian prospect.

Finally, Alcoa Corp (ASX:AAI) is rounding out Week 4’s quarterlies today.

Buck and ore

Now – in forex, as noted, our dollar’s at 68.4 U.S. cents.

And looking at commodities, all in the greenback,

Iron Ore has climbed +0.4%; it’s today at $103.65 a tonne in Singapore,

Brent Crude is down -1.7%, to $64.13/Bbl,

Gold is charging down that $5K marker; it’s $4,935/ounce,

US natgas futures retracted, but are still up +54% WOW at $4.84 per gigajoule.

That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – happy trading.

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