Market Open: The bears are again expected to be in charge on the ASX 200 after Wall Street enjoyed a roller coaster ride overnight.
Hello, and welcome to HotCopper‘s Market Open for Thursday, Week 20, I’m Colin Sandell-Hay
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The Australian share market is expected to be weaker today, with the latest SPI futures suggesting the ASX 200 will open the day 24 points or 0.3% lower.
In the United States, the Dow Jones was down 0.15%, but the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq jumped 1.2%.
On Wall Street tech stocks led the way with inflation concerns and high energy prices continuing to impact other sectors such as retail and banking.
Rare earths news dominated the resource sector overnight with Reuters reporting that Australia and the US are expected to release a plan on Friday to improve rare earth supplies.
That comes as China continues to restrict its exports of the critical metals despite positive suggestions it is considering a rare earths truce with the US.
On the local front the number of new home loans fell 6.2% to 139,794 in March quarter 2026, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
“Falls were recorded across all borrower types this quarter, following strong growth throughout 2025 and cash rate rises in February and March,” said Dr Mish Tan, ABS head of finance statistics.
“Despite this quarter’s fall, lending activity remains at high levels, with total new home loans 8.6% higher than a year ago.”
Now – in forex, the Oz dollar buys $0.725 US dollars.
In commodities, all in the greenback, at the time of going to press
Brent Crude was down 2.06% to $105.550
Iron Ore was up 0.65% to $110.95
Gold was down 0.61% to $4686.48
Natgas futures were up 0.88% to $2.8681
ASX stocks to watch
Air New Zealand (ASX: AIZ) has warned that the global aviation sector continues to be hit by the higher oil prices related to the Middle East crisis.
It said jet fuel prices, which were around US$85 to US$90 prior to the conflict, have traded between approximately US$160 and US$230 per barrel over the last 10 weeks.
Elsewhere in NZ, Mercury is scaling up its geothermal platform, with up to NZ$1 billion in new investment.
The company is committing NZ$75 million to geothermal appraisal drilling for two projects at existing sites near Taupō as part of its next growth phase.
In WA, Everest Metals (ASX: EMC) has defined a maiden near-surface gold system at Revere.
Forrestania Resources (ASX: FRS) has delivered an upgraded MRE at Johnson Range.
On the corporate side, ASX Ltd (ASX: ASX) has named Anthony Attia as its new MD and CEO.
That’s HotCopper‘s Market Open, I’m Colin Sandell-Hay – good luck today.
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