At The Bell — Australian shares are heading for a slight rise this morning to close out Week 26, with a +0.1% advance in futures. Our equity trade is again marching to its own tune this week, largely ignoring Wall Street’s volatility, led by Apple’s dump, and oil rallying after a ship was hit in the Hormuz Strait.
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The U.S. was truly all over the shop, with the Dow Jones slightly in the green, the Nasdaq composite just slipping red, and the S&P totally flat.
With the Oz bourse tipped to gain less than 10 points at the bell, that cargo ship being hit by a missile could rattle things – especially because the British say the ship was using the new Omani/United Nations-backed route.
But, other markets seem to be happy trucking on as well, like London’s FTSE, up +0.65%, and Japan’s Nikkei, which leapt over +4.6% today.
Aussie bulls will be hoping Friday ends up being the same here, too.
Or, maybe the market slows with everyone watching the World Cup. Go the Socceroos.
ASX stocks to watch
Now, into equities. First up, Far East Gold (ASX:FEG) has today turned down an unsolicited off-market offer from Xingye Gold in Hong Kong, calling it “neither fair, nor reasonable.” The Hong Kong miner had offered 13c/share (all in cash), but an expert said Far East’s shares are worth 38.5c each.
Elsewhere, 4DMedical (ASX:4DX) has had its CT:VQ product approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), which will now “enable commercial deployment” for the imaging solution tech across Australia.
Struggling Kathmandu and Rip Curl retailer KMD Brands (ASX:KMD) has locked in NZ $208 million debt funding to support new FY27 plans.
And, Nine (ASX:NEC) has dumped star Today Show host Karl Stefanovic this morning.
Judo Bank (ASX:JDO) cut to “neutral” in a Jarden note today, too.
Buck and ore
In forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 69c today,
Then to commodities, all in the greenback,
Brent Crude +2%, to $75.25/barrel,
Iron Ore has dropped -0.7%, today selling at $97.70 a tonne in Singapore,
Gold survived dipping below $4K, today at $4,037/ounce, and,
US natgas futures up, $3.30 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper‘s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – happy trading today.
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