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At The Bell — Australian shares are still looking for direction before open on Tuesday morning, with ASX 200 futures less than five points down. Oil prices are surging again, especially after Donald Trump said United States forces will block the Strait of Hormuz and charge shipping companies for safe passage.
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Tech jitters on Wall Street – yes, U.S. traders are getting edgy – have dropped the Nasdaq composite more than -1.5%, while the oft-safer S&P 500 and Dow both red, too. Japan’s Nikkei dropped nearly -2%, London flat as well.
And Wall Street is also eyeing up a 50/50 chance there’s a major interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve next month, not helping sentiments either.
Another day where we’ll have to see where we trundle. Maybe those consumer confidence reports I flagged yesterday could give us some direction. That will be out at 10.30AM, and we’ll get business confidence an hour after.
ASX stocks to watch
First up, Genesis Minerals (ASX:GMD) is now set to take over Vault Minerals (ASX:VAU) in a $12.6 billion deal, after Regis Resources (ASX:REG) told shareholders it wouldn’t be getting into an M&A scrap that could see it overpay.
Elsewhere, BPH Energy (ASX:BPH) has flagged that Asset Energy, which operates the PEP-11 joint venture, is appealing the Fed Court’s June ruling on the Petroleum Exploration Permit for the offshore license. The top Oz courts originally rejected Bounty Oil & Gas (ASX:BUY) and Asset’s recent extension requests.
Ryman (ASX:RYM) has got its Q1 trading update out early, confirming its on-track for its FY27 build guidance with retirement home demand still “steady.”
And, Vection Tech (ASX:VR1) has locked up a $7.5 million deal to deliver Algho AI staging for new European smart cities being developed to CY30.
Xero (ASX:XRO) chief Sukhinder Singh Cassidy has sold all her Xero shares, too.
Buck and ore
In forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 69.1c today,
Then to commodities, all in the greenback,
Brent Crude still booming, +9.3% to over $83.09/barrel,
Iron Ore has reeled back from its Monday pop, $98.55 a tonne in Singapore today,
Gold weak, $4,009/ounce, and,
US natgas futures down, $2.89 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper‘s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – happy trading today.
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