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ASX today – Good morning, and welcome to HotCopper‘s Market Open on Wednesday, Week 14, I’m Isaac McIntyre. Australian shares are heading for a rocket, with a 101-point advance on the horizon for investors after Washington and Tehran both signalled their Middle East conflict may soon end.
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No huge rush to sell Brent crude and energy stocks yet despite the Week 14 about-face, mainly because Donald Trump said reopening the Strait of Hormuz is “not a necessary condition” to ending U.S. attacks.
(Trump also told America’s allies that they should “go get your own oil,” especially European nations that refused to join him in attacking Iran.)
He did, however, just tell the New York Post that he expects things not to last “too much longer” – and thats the ‘buy’ signal everyone was waiting for.
Over in the U.S., things have been booming already. The S&P 500 closed nearly +3% up, adding $1.7 trillion to the index’s overall cap today; its single strongest trading day since back in May CY25. The Nasdaq composite, meanwhile, was nearly +4% up on the surge, while the Dow Jones, +2.49%.
This huge hike Wednesday morning will leave the ASX hovering around 8,600 points as we head into Q4 FY26, so there’s a long way to go to get back to that lofty 9K peak, but sentiments seem to be turning again.
We’ll see whether that lasts – all it’d take is one Trump move the other way.
ASX stocks to watch
Now, around the traps Wednesday, Aussie tech remains a (rough) watch. The sector had some $7 billion wiped away through March thanks to the ongoing war in Iran, coupled with fears that the RBA hiking interest rates again could prove too major a disruption for the growing artificial intelligence push.
Elsewhere, heavyweight debutant Koala Company (ASX:KOA) is looking to continue its bumper first week on the bourse late in Week 14. The furniture retailer ended Day One some +12% higher with a cap ~$380 million.
Arafura Rare Earths (ASX:ARU) has signed binding agreements with a pair of cornerstone investors that will hand the company $230M in secure equity subscriptions. This will mainly be poured straight into progress at the NdPr-focused Nolans Project and “diversifying global rare earth supply chains.”
And, ARN Media (ASX:A1N) now faces total collapse should it lose the lawsuits levelled against it from Kylie Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson. The radio personalities are suing Kiss FM for twice its total ASX market value.
Collins Food (ASX:CKF) is down -4% this week, too, on its Taco Bell exit plans.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 69c.
Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore is +1% weaker, selling at $105.20 a tonne in Singapore today,
Brent Crude has crashed to $102.97/Bbl,
Gold is selling at $4,681/ounce,
US natgas futures are down -0.3%, to $2.87 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck today.
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