Market Open: ‘Day dot’ for Feb reporting; CBA, CSL, and AGL to take the headlines | Feb 11

ASX today – Australian shares are heading for a third straight advance in Week 7 as investors Down Under prepare for what is essentially “Day Dot” for all the big reporting news in February’s earnings season.

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The raft of blue-chips we’re getting quarterlies from may be enough to move the dial towards swings, especially CSL (ASX:CSL) – more on that soon.

We’re already preparing for a +0.2% gain at open, some 10-plus points higher, taking our lead from the positive Dow Jones rather than the retreating S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Europe has been similarly red; London’s down -0.3%.

Only Japan’s Nikkei has been anything close to booming: It’s up +2.3%, which mostly comes after an election cycle, stimmys, and the “Takaichi Trade.” (If you want to dive deeper, my colleague JD had a write-up yesterday.)

Now, onto ASX stock news and everything in Feb’s earnings season.

ASX stocks to watch

First up, Macquarie Bank (ASX:MGQ) continues its play to expand the ASX’s upper echelon into a “Big 5” for banks, this week unveiling plans for term deposits, as well as way more savings accounts and home loans.

Elsewhere, ASX Ltd (ASX:ASX) chief Helen Lofthouse will be leaving the company’s top job come May. She’s been in charge these last three years.

And in very similar news, as mentioned earlier, CSL heads into its major reporting day on the back of CEO Paul McKenzie being removed just yesterday. In a snap online meeting hosted late Tuesday evening, the biotech’s board declared “[McKenzie] didn’t have the skills that we wanted for the future.”

Other big reports today include bourse blue-chips like the Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA), James Hardie (ASX:JHX), and AGL Energy (ASX:AGL).

And, materials gets in on action with Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) at 10am.

Buck and ore

Now – in forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 70.7c.

Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,

Iron Ore is up nearly +0.5%, selling at $100.40 a tonne in Singapore today,

Brent Crude is flat, selling at $69.06/Bbl,

Gold is selling at $5,046/ounce,

US natgas futures have barely moved, at $3.13 per gigajoule.

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

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