Market Open: ASX following burgeoning Wall Street (and its nearing ATHs) along for WK16 rally

ASX today – Australian shares are heading up again today, +0.5% and ~45 points, after Wall Street ticked towards more all-time highs. Funny thing to be saying considering the war in the Middle East isn’t actually over yet, and Donald Trump is still blockading the Strait of Hormuz, but U.S. traders are getting bullish.

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The Nasdaq was nearly +2% stronger, while the S&P 500 added +1.2%. That was enough for us to continue the Week 16 rally that’s been brewing.

Plenty that could still dent this enthusiasm, though, especially Down Under. I really don’t like our fuel situation; the last tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz before the conflict erupted in February will have all finally arrived in Oz and across Asia by April 20. Beyond that date, we’ll get a proper look at whether there’ll be fuel shortages through Europe, the U.S., and, of course, at home.

There’s still a “big income shock” to come from the conflict ballooning inflation, too, if the RBA’s Deputy Gov. Andrew Hauser is to be believed. He’s just admitted there’s little the RBA can actually do to curb rising prices in the short term. Not helping sentiments is that he called the whole thing “a nightmare.”

And yet, Aussie traders seem happy to buy this week. Power to you if you’re that bullish, I suppose – I’m going to entertain myself with stock news.

ASX stocks to watch

First up there, Woolworths (ASX:WOW) is pushing back against suppliers demanding the heavyweight supermarket raise shelf prices. Some food and grocery manufacturers have asked Woolies – and arch-rival Coles (ASX:COL) – to strongly consider consumer-facing price rises in the “low single-digit range.”

Elsewhere, Oz’s biggest banks, insurers, and super funds, led by CBA (ASX:CBA), are pleading with financial regulators to allow them access to Anthropic’s new “Mythos” model. APRA and ASIC are nervy after the AI market leader warned Mythos “could be weaponised to exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities.”

Yancoal (ASX:YAL) has told shareholders it’s grabbing an 80% stake in the Kestrel coking coal mine in the Bowen Basin. Yancoal struck an agreement to buy Kestrel Coal, which holds 80% in the JV, for ~A$3.37 billion.

And microcap Accelerate (ASX:AX8) has got drilling started at its Fluffy gold prospect. It recently called the Balagundi target “compelling.”

Finally, Westpac (ASX:WBC) has been down -2.6% on interest rate volatility.

Buck and ore

Now – in forex, the Oz dollar buys US 71.2c.

In commodities, all in the greenback,

Brent Crude plunged another -4.4%, with many now assuming the war will be over soon. $94.98/Bbl this morning, and then,

Iron Ore is down -1%, at $103.50 a tonne in Singapore,

Gold‘s on the road back to $5K, today fetching $4,855/ounce, and,

US natgas futures are ~$2.59 per gigajoule.

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

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