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ASX today – Australian shares are heading for a -0.29% drop at open on Friday, which would guarantee a maudlin Week 41 comes into the weekend down overall, even despite that Wed-Thursday pop that ticked things back slightly.
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With both gold and oil prices falling back from their mid-week price highs and the U.S. shutdown rolling on, not much should change to close, either.
That’s certainly been the story globally: All three major Wall Street indexes closed red, with the Dow Jones’ -0.5% drop leading the way. London retreated 0.4%, too, while Singapore has been trading 15pts lower already.
The biggest thing that may rock the boat – up or down, we’ll have to see – is Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock fronting a Senate hearing this morning. This Senate Estimates meeting will mainly revolve around rising property prices; for investors, how Bullock addresses her plans is the hot topic.
With that coming up quick, we’ll run through Friday’s company news.
ASX stocks to watch
Today – reports are now suggesting this week’s China vs. BHP Group (ASX:BHP) stoush may not be resolved this year. Even if it does resolve, we won’t feel the impact until around early January anyway, with BHP having already printed its November and December allocations for international customers.
Elsewhere, Qantas (ASX:QAN) has warned its customers to “remain vigilant,” with Friday marking the deadline imposed by hackers who said they’d release personal data stolen from the airline’s 5.7-million-strong customer database.
AGL Energy (ASX:AGL) has admitted its 600-megawatt wind farm in south-west Victoria, just subsidised by the government, is “unlikely” to be ready by 2030.
And on the HotCopper forums, Battery Age Minerals (ASX:BM8) is drawing attention early following the explorer’s drill permit application for its El Aguila Gold-Silver Project in Argentina coming back with a tick.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the Oz dollar is buying 65.5 U.S. cents.
And looking at commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore has charged +1% higher, and is at $105.10 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is down 1.5%, at $65.22/bbl,
Gold has slipped from its $4K highs, and is at $3,992 an ounce,
US natgas futures have dumped another -2.7%, to $3.24 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s ASX Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck, happy trading.
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