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ASX today – Australian shares are heading for a +0.2% gain at open on the last day in Week 49 right now, but considering how the rest of the trading week has gone, there’s every chance that quickly turns into a Friday fade.
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Nearly every day this week has been pointing to green arrows, before Oz investors start jumping at shadows and everything retracts into the arvo.
The worst was, of course, how quickly things reversed on Monday (though that was mainly thanks to ASX Ltd (ASX:ASX) and its market announcement bungle that saw as many as eighty companies stuck sending news).
Jonathon Davidson and I had a little dig through that Monday stuff-up on the HotCopper Wire podcast episode this week, if you want to hear more on that one.
With nothing too headwind-y in the pipes just yet this Friday morning, there’s every chance we’ll watch the same play run out through the six open hours today. We’ll have to wait and see, though; here’s company news.
ASX stocks to watch
Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) plans to “generate billions” by divesting assets and simplifying its structure, new chief Simon Trott has declared. Key assets in the impending $16B sale include Rio’s titanium and borates businesses.
Elsewhere, ChatGPT maker OpenAI has made a huge investment in Aussie infrastructure, inking a deal with NextDC (ASX:NXT) for a $7B data centre in Sydney.
We’ll welcome one last Week 49 debutant today as well, in what has been a busy week for floats. This one’s Saluda Medical, which is arriving under ticker code “SLD.” The Aussie company’s looking to raise $230.7 million.
And, Arafura (ASX:ARU) shareholders are heading into an extraordinary meeting today to discuss (and vote on) a $475M equity raise that will be funnelled straight into the Nolans Project in Alice Springs. Judging by all the comments on the HotCopper forums from holders, it’ll be a close-run thing.
Premier Investments (ASX:PMV) has its AGM today, too.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the Oz dollar buys 66.1 U.S. cents.
Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore has been mostly flat, up +0.1% to $104.30 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude gained +1%, to $63.34/bbl,
Gold is at $4,213 an ounce, and,
US natgas futures are up +1.7%, to $5.08 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck, happy trading.
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