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ASX today – Australian shares are coasting into Friday largely flat, with early futures suggesting we’ll see less than 10-points gained at open. As it was yesterday, though, there’s no real surprise there — after an historic Wednesday boom on the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, many traders are favouring a steady hand.
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It had originally been looking like we would follow Wall Street lower to end Week 15, but U.S. equities then managed to reverse the morning red after Israel agreed to hold “direct negotiations” with Lebanon “as soon as possible.”
The U.S. and Iran are also meeting directly on Saturday. Iran’s supreme leader said in a telly address the Strait of Hormuz’s future will be the top topic.
That leaves us largely waiting for Week 16 to see what happens there with Washington and Tehran — and that’s likely why many Oz investors will simply be staying steady this Friday morning. Not bulls or bears; just patience.
Elsewhere, Prime Minister Albo has pledged that Australia will still be a “reliable gas supplier” to countries like Singapore and Malaysia. He’s been focused on keeping all of our reciprocal arrangements alive in the crisis.
And staying on that topic, the Aussie federal gov’t says it’s been treating the fuel supply Down Under as a national security issue. Energy Minister Chris Bowen recently confirmed the government is striking key bargains with the nation’s biggest fuel suppliers to help secure extra petrol and diesel cargoes.
ASX stocks to watch
Now, let’s look around the traps. Elixir Energy (ASX:EXR) stands out, first up, after the energy producer struck an agreement to complete feasibility work for “the fastest and most economic path for northern Taroom Trough gas.”
Elsewhere, Ampol (ASX:ALD) has offered to sell nearly double the petrol stations it had originally said it would to bridle ACCC concerns. The competition regulator has worried the petrol company would become too dominant if its plotted $1.1 billion EG Australia acquisition were to go through, as it stands.
And now over in IPO land, we have two stories. The first surrounds Canva; expected to be the biggest float we’ve had in quite some time Down Under. Today, Canva acquired two local artificial intelligence companies as the Oz design software giant shores up its capabilities before its potential listing.
And then Sydney biotech HaemaLogiX has said it will be listing on the Oz bourse after more than 20 years developing blood cancer immunotherapies. “We expect [to] be ready for the market in about a week,” chief Chris Baldwin told Capital Brief, though he did add that Trump could impact those plans.
Finally, Amaero (ASX:3DA) has entered a purchasing agreement that includes an order for titanium alloy powders with a value of ~A$7.8 million.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 70.8c.
And in commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore has dropped over -2%, to sell at $102.85 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude bounced back slightly, $96.43/Bbl today,
Gold is still steady, up at $4,784/ounce,
US natgas futures are down -1.8%, at ~$2.67 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck today.
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