ASX today – The fairly dour end to CY25’s December trading looks to have settled in for Week 51, with Australian shares little changed before Wednesday’s open. The tipped two-point advance is a gain, we suppose, but with Wall Street struggling for catalysts and Oz in much the same boat, it’s unlikely to get much greener.
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With how sour traders are heading into the Chrissy holidays, this may not move the dial, but Treasurer Jim Chalmers is sharing his Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook. He’s expected to show an $8.4B bump to the bottom line.
On the radio today, Chalmers declared: “What it will show is spending as a share of the economy is lower than the peak we saw under our predecessors.”
Coupling that with the late U.S. jobs reporting that was just released, and it’s all a very maudlin morning, so far. The data there all boiled down to unemployment rates still rising, setting up a likely Fed hold in January.
Maybe we’ll find cheerier news on the company wire.
ASX stocks to watch
First up, there’s some hope for Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) after it was just knocked back in the merger clash for Predictive Discovery (ASX:PDI). The gold miner is now looking for other projects to pick up, which would then tide it over until Meyas Sand in Sudan and Nyanzaga in Tanzania start producing in 2027.
Turaco Gold (ASX:TCG) may see some action, too; it was named as one possible acquisition for Perseus. While nothing’s been put together formally yet, Perseus has reportedly been sniffing around the Côte d’Ivoire explorer.
Elsewhere, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) has started early phases at Rhodes Ridge. The major iron project has been described as Pilbara’s “last crown jewel” and could produce as much as 50 million tonnes of ore this decade.
The RBA has warned Big Four banks like NAB (ASX:NAB) and CBA (ASX:CBA) not to switch off AusPayNet just yet. The bourse blue-chips had been eager to close the direct entry network by 2030, but are heeding the central bank.
And, Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) is fielding mega-bids for its equipment finance portfolio. Early suitors have tabled offers worth up to $3.8 billion.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the Oz dollar buys 66.3 U.S. cents.
Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore regained nearly +1%, to $102.45 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude dumped -2.9%, to $58.82/bbl,
Gold is at $4,308 an ounce, and,
US natgas futures shaved another -2.5%, to $3.91 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck, happy trading.
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