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ASX today – The ASX 200 is tipped to open slightly lower or possibly flat this morning after Wall Street’s modest decline overnight and despite a solid fall in oil prices.
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The ASX 200 closed up on Wednesday following the release of Australian inflation numbers which some pundits suggest has reduced expectations of another RBA rate increase.
In the US, the S&P 500 was down 0.3%, the Dow fell 0.9%, while the Nasdaq was up 0.2%.
The Nasdaq’s small gain is supportive for Australian technology stocks, but the S&P/Dow declined on very high US bond yields.
The key question will be whether the strong Australian inflation-driven rally can continue despite weaker US equities and very high US bond yields.
The ASX has also just bounced strongly from its September weakness, so some profit-taking would not be surprising.
Brent crude was back below US$100 barrel in a volatile trading session.
Oil prices were under pressure mainly because Middle Eastern oil exports are recovering, reducing fears of an immediate global crude shortage.
Saudi Arabia has increased its flows through its East-West pipeline, while Gulf exports have recovered toward pre-war levels. That eased the supply-risk premium in crude.
Local market news
Heartland Group (ASX: HGH) shareholders have approved the proposed TSB merger;
Aura Energy (ASX: AEE) has appointed a leadership team to build the Tiris uranium project in Mauritania;
Azzuro Resources (ASX: AZ9) has discovered a new copper sulphide zone at Red Hill;
Exultant Mining (ASX: 10X) has extended the high-grade zone at Balerion at depth; and
Elixir Energy (ASX: EXR) has hit a milestone at the Lorelle-3H well with the commencement of post-soak flow testing.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the Oz dollar is buying US$0.694
Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore was down 0.14% to $96.59 per tonne in Singapore today,
Brent Crude was up 1.76% to $97.852 per barrel,
Gold was selling at $4157.80,
US natgas futures were up 0.03% to $3.0119 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Colin Sandell-Hay – happy trading.
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