The ASX 200 is expected to dip into the red this Friday, with futures down 0.27% as the booming 2024 Santa rally faces its first early trough.
Part of the reason for red tickers across the Aussie bourse in Friday futures was a pause on Wall Street – investors in the U.S. have taken a deep breath, slowing its record-breaking rally to await Friday’s (local time) payroll reports.
This data’s most important because it will inform the Federal Reserve’s next rate choice.
Early tips place November’s report as positive with a rebound in employment.
In-vogue Bitcoin has similarly seen a bit of hesitation in the last hours of Wall Street trading after finally breaking US$100,000. Now in new frontiers, the godfather cryptocurrency is having more and more puts bought against it after its all-time highs.
South Korea’s Kospi fell another 0.9% – compounding its 1.4% drop on Wednesday – as President Yoon Suk Yeol faces impeachment for his attempt to call martial law.
Back home, Iluka (ASX:ILU) has caught eyes on HotCopper forums after positive talks with the Federal Government regarding its Eneabba rare earths refinery. The gov’t has promised a further $400 million for Iluka’s Eneabba upgrades.
Immutep (ASX:MMM) investors will be on high alert too after the ASX-listed immunotherapy-focused biotech was named as a juicy acquisition opportunity.
All of this comes under the shadow of a new McKinsey report that suggested Australia’s productivity growth has slumped to 30th (out of 35 rich countries in the study) – and what that suggests, the U.S. consultancy firm warned, is that declining living standards have already become a “national emergency.”
December’s small IPO rush gets underway today with Stormeur Ltd debuting on the ASX at 1pm Sydney time. The industrial company, which owns Cosmetique, a cosmetics and injectables chain, is listing under STR; it wants to raise $7 million.
Bangladesh-based Everlast Minerals, which currently runs three operations on the Brahmaputra River, pulled the plug on today’s planned float last minute.
Looking at forex, the Aussie dollar is buying 64.5 US cents.
To commodities, which are in the greenback,
Iron Ore has dropped 1.27% to $104 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is trading at $72.25,
Gold is trading at $2,637 per ounce, and,
US natgas futures are at $3.08 per gigajoule.
That’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre, stick with us for HotCopper’s Market Update.