Market Open: Stocks surging, Brent Crude dumping on Trump saying Iran war ‘very complete’ | March 10

ASX today – What a difference a day makes… Yesterday the Australian stock market was battered for a bloody -3% day, with hundreds of points dropped. Today, Donald Trump says the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran are “very complete,” and suddenly we’re looking at a +2.2% rebound for Tuesday morning.

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The quotes that have everyone bullish are as follows. Trump said: Iran has “nothing left in a military sense,” before he suggested U.S. attacks were “very far ahead of schedule,” and his month estimate may have been long. Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen, but the U.S. President seems convinced.

“They’ve no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force,” he said from his Florida golfing club. “Their missiles are down to a scatter.”

Trump also said he was thinking about taking over the Strait of Hormuz, though, which would mean more attacks rather than the peace he’s been bellowing about.

Either way, his declarations instantly swung Wall Street back green overnight, with the Nasdaq composite ending strongest, +1.4%. Europe and Asia are still largely down, but it’s the States our stocks are closely linked to.

Not quite enough to pare Monday’s historic losses, of course, but should Week 11 trade keep on this new path, we may collect it all back by Friday.

ASX stocks to watch

Now, company news. CSL (ASX:CSL) is spending as much as $2.1B on expanding its plasma manufacturing operations into the U.S. The Aussie bluechip has been looking to move into the United States in some capacity since Trump first threatened major tariffs on all pharmaceutical imports.

Elsewhere, Electro Optic (ASX:EOS) is back to ~$10/sh some weeks after a New York short seller, Grizzly Research, warned it was “smoke and mirrors.”

And, Koala has locked in its CY26 IPO, with the furniture retailer looking to raise $68M at a $300M valuation. The company hasn’t formally picked a date yet; The Market Link understands it’s likely to be in early April.

Freight giant Pacific National is another looking to float sometime this year.

Buck and ore

Now – in forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 70.7c.

Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,

Iron Ore is +1.2% stronger, selling at $102.80 a tonne in Singapore today,

Brent Crude is down -4.5%, at $88.53/Bbl,

Gold is selling at $5,154/ounce,

US natgas futures are down -5%, to $3.02 per gigajoule.

That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck today.

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