ASX Today: XJO passes back across 8,700pts as NASDAQ records injects optimism

It was a better day than yesterday on the ASX. Whereas Monday dipped red before closing flat; the ASX was up half a percent heading into the final half hour of trade on Tuesday.

That puts the XJO back up above 8,700pts after it’s languished below 8,600pts in recent days; though the optimism is largely because the NASDAQ hit a record high overnight and Wall Street shows that it’s ready to ignore the US 10Y bond yield.

Counterintuitively, though, Australia’s tech index (XTX) fell nearly -3%, driven down by falls in big names.

When it comes to commodities, there hasn’t been much movement but while oil remains high there are signs of easing as Saudi forces battle with Houthi fighters in Yemen, which could reduce bottlenecks in crucial shipping lanes.

Of course, the Strait of Hormuz is still very up in the air as the US-Iran war shows no sign of easing, so don’t expect any goldilocks outcomes any time soon. So far, the market’s been most impressed by strategic oil reserve releases, but that obviously can’t last.

Still, any good news is, well, good news.

At home the top gainers were quite a mixed bag. Gentrack Group jumped over +8% after Yarra bought in yesterday; IGA owner Metcash Ltd also climbed just over A$3/sh based on no news. Australian-US aluminium giant Alcoa also jumped over +4%.

Looking at the top fallers, dragged down as investors punished hot tech stock Weebit Nano after a change of auditor. Elsewhere, drone tech company Elsight Ltd fell over -13% on no news.

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