Market Open: Fragile Iran war ceasefire to be week’s big topic; Hormuz reportedly closed again

At The Bell — Australian shares are wobbling slightly heading into Week 26, with the stuttering U.S.-Iran peace talks weighing, as well as the fact Iran is now claiming it’s closed the vital Strait of Hormuz all over again.

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U.S. and Iranian delegates were meant to meet in Switzerland on Saturday, with the objective there meant to be a permanent peace; the moot was scrapped after Israel staged more attacks in Lebanon. Tehran claimed Israel’s moves violated the ceasefire and said it’s been forced to close the Strait again.

It’s enough to leak Down Under on Monday morning, with traders hesitating until more information has been shared from the Middle East today.

Heading into the opening bell, Oz shares are ~10 points lower; any new date for the Switzerland meeting may help things a little, at least.

Wall Street was also shut for Juneteenth, so no data from the U.S. today.

ASX stocks to watch

Now, in stocks first up this week, BHP (ASX:BHP) has warned shareholders that there’s been further “cost overruns” at its flagship Canadian potash business. BHP had originally said it would cost ~US$4.9 billion; it’s up to $US6.9B. The bourse leader’s shares hit a fresh high last week, but dropped -5.6% Friday.

The A2 Milk Company (ASX:A2M) has received final approval in China to swap two new Chinese-label infant milk formula products into A2 brands.

Elsewhere, Nanoveu (ASX:NVU) has successfully completed its first live drone flight trials with ECS-DoT, with the data confirming “energy-efficiency improvements in simulation can also be achieved under real-world conditions.”

WiseTech (ASX:WTC) is on watch this morning, after it was reported that founder Richard White is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police.

And, King River (ASX:KRR) has deployed its RC drill rig at Mindoolah today.

Buck and ore

In forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 70c today,

Then to commodities, all in the greenback,

Brent Crude up +1%, to $81.55/barrel,

Iron Ore is still dropping, and today sells at $98.85 a tonne in Singapore,

Gold has kept fading to start this week, $4,164/ounce, and,

US natgas futures up, @ $3.27 per gigajoule.

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

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