Market Open: Reserve Bank, Fair Work comish rulings to hold sway on plodding day; Koala arrives | March 31

ASX today – Hello, and welcome to our Market Open coverage for Tuesday, Week 14, I’m Isaac McIntyre. Australian shares are heading for a minute rise at open Tuesday, which could very easily turn red at the slightest bad weather – starting with decisions from the Reserve Bank and Oz’s Fair Work today.

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The first of those two big Aussie watches comes from the RBA. Michele Bullock and the central bank will share its recommendations on card payment fees today, with any overhaul expected to save punters 2% every card tap.

And then as many as 500,000 young people could be in line for a pay rise, should Fair Work “OK” the update. This “junior pay rate” would apply to anyone working below 21 in sectors that employ a lot of young people, including retail, fast food, and pharmacy. That call’s coming at 10AM Sydney time today.

Should either of these come out largely dovish – i.e. the RBA moves to chop credit card surcharge fees, or Fair Work approves the new pay rate – then there’s every chance investors get a bit more bullish.

Whether it’s enough to get us around the slowly increasing fuel pain and near-constant fears the Iran war could escalate is still to be seen, of course.

(Albo and his Labor gov’t did just knock the fuel excise duty down by half for the next three months, so that will mean the whole Brent crude/black gold panic hurts a little less Down Under for the foreseeable future.)

ASX stocks to watch

Now, looking across the Tuesday wire, it’s looking like Koala day: Viral online retailer The Koala Company is arriving on the Oz index this morning, listing under ticker “KOA” at 11am in Sydney. The long-awaited float will pop up at $3.40/share, with $20M already raised by Barrenjoey and Morgans Corp.

49Metals, which shied away from last week’s bloodbath, is scheduled to list two hours after that as well. It will be under “49M” and come in at 20cps.

Elsewhere, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) has stuck to its guns on Pilbara iron guidance, with shipments resuming after Tropical Cyclone Narelle. The blue-chip heavyweight says it will still ship somewhere between 323 and 338M tonnes in CY26, and doesn’t expect the cyclone to have rattled things too much.

And, KMD Brands (ASX:KMD) has stayed in the headlines in Week 14, too, unveiling an NZ$65M cap raise plan to “shore up its balance sheet,” as well as a proposal that would see chairman David Kirk out the door.

Webjet (ASX:WJL) has gone one further, dumping chief Katrina Barry two years after she was crowned, as the budget airline continues to struggle.

Buck and ore

Now – in forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 68.4c.

Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,

Iron Ore is +0.3% stronger, selling at $106.25 a tonne in Singapore today,

Brent Crude is up +1.3%, at $114.08/Bbl,

Gold is selling at $4,525/ounce,

US natgas futures are down -4.5%, to $2.88 per gigajoule.

That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck today.

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