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At The Bell — Australian shares will surge higher at the open today, with early futures suggesting a +1% leap to ~8,600 points after President Donald Trump boasted the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is now “in the final stages” and that a peace bargain between Washington and Tehran should close soon.
Hear from all the ASX-listed companies that were at the RIU Resources Round-Up in Sydney, right here on HotCopper.com. Over a dozen interviews.
Trump said, “We’ll see what happens. Either have a deal, or we’re going to do some things that are a little bit nasty, but hopefully that won’t happen.”
Global markets seem to be listening more to the “deal” part than anything else — all three major Wall Street indexes boomed past +1%, as did London’s FTSE. Europe’s central Stoxx did even better, barreling past 620pts.
Just to keep note of Week 21’s latest thematic, too, this brought U.S. government bonds down a little, though they are still largely higher than a month ago. We’ll have to keep watching those as this latest bargain wraps up.
And, former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating has lashed wealthy Australians who have “feasted” on light capital gains taxes for years and are now complaining. He claimed Albo’s changes are better for young people.
April’s Labour force report is set for release at 11.30AM today, too.
ASX stocks to watch
Now, for Thursday’s stock news. First up, Zip Co (ASX.ZIP) will be staying in Australia after reaching a settlement with Firstmac over a trademark dispute. Zip will now acquire the registered “ZIP” trademark from Firstmac under the deal; the company will face no further liability for damages or costs.
We have a major new debutant arriving today, too, with SkinKandy listing under “SK1” at 12.30PM. The piercing giant will hit the bourse at $2.20/share.
Elsewhere, Arafura Rare Earths (ASX.ARU) has made a final investment decision for the Nolans Rare Earth Project, and will be moving ahead with its lined-up grand offtake strategy as well as all necessary financing plans.
Magmatic Resources (ASX.MAG) has started its third-phase drilling program at the Weebo Gold Project in the Eastern Goldfields this week.
And, Contact (ASX.CEN) returns to trading after Infratil sold 5% yesterday.
Buck and ore
In forex, the Oz dollar buys US 71.5c.
And to commodities, all in the greenback,
Brent Crude is selling at $105.42/Bbl, down around -5% today,
Iron Ore is -0.4% weaker; $107.40 a tonne in Singapore,
Gold is up, $4,552/ounce, and,
US natgas futures at ~$3.03 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper‘s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – happy trading today.
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