Market Open: Oz set up to be hopeful early; US-Iran escalation will weigh eventually

At The Bell — Australian investors seem largely positive to start Week 30, with futures pointing to a +0.6% advance at open despite Wall Street’s week-long retreat continuing into Friday and oil springing back to $90/barrel.

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Some stuff could easily ruffle feathers, though, especially U.S. President Donald Trump authorising more strikes on Iran early Sunday (in Aus time) and suspending any early peace negotiations. Tehran’s forces had just attacked Jordan, which had resulted in two U.S. military deaths and one missing soldier.

We won’t get a U.S. lead equity-wise until tomorrow, but Wall Street pulled shutters last week with the Dow -0.8% and the S&P a full point lower.

U.S. earnings season’s in full swing, too, so keep an eye on that. Semiconductor stocks will be a major watch for Wall Street traders in Week 30.

Looking ahead, we get key labour force data lunchtime Thursday.

ASX stocks to watch

Now, to stocks Monday morning. Celsius Resources (ASX:CLA) has been served legal notices by Equinaire Holdings, a subsidiary of India-based Kiri Industries, regarding its subsidiary, Makilala Mining. The Celsius board has strongly stated its intention to “protect its interests to the fullest extent of the law.”

Elsewhere, South32 (ASX:S32), Aurelia Metals (ASX:AMI), and Yancoal (ASX:YAL) are among the Oz resources companies sharing quarterlies today.

We’ll get plenty more across the rest of the week, too, including from Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK), HUB24 (ASX:HUB), Beach Energy (ASX:BPT), Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC), Westgold (ASX:WGX), and Karoon (ASX:KAR).

Some of the majors to watch come at the end of the week, with Santos (ASX:STO) scheduled for a Thursday update and Regis Resources (ASX:REG) on Friday.

And, Nelson (ASX:NES) has started the week right with high grades at Orleans.

Buck and ore

In forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 69.7c today,

Then to commodities, all in the greenback,

Brent Crude up slightly, $90.86/barrel,

Iron Ore is right on the button at $100 a tonne in Singapore,

Gold has just scraped back to $4,000/ounce after last week’s dip, and,

US natgas futures flat at $2.89 per gigajoule.

That’s HotCopper‘s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – happy trading today.

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