Australian stocks are set to rise today, bolstered by a similar trend in Europe, as doveish investors expect an interest rate cut by the ECB next week.
The ASX200 is set to rise today with futures up +0.12% at 8:55 am AEST.
The US markets were not trading on Monday, due to the Memorial Day holiday. However, European stocks were higher on Monday, bouncing back from last week’s losses, with the Eurozone’s Stoxx 50 adding 0.4% to 5,054, and the pan-European Stoxx 600 pushing up 0.3% higher to 522, 0.5% below its record high this month.
Bolstering the dovish mood in Europe was Germany’s Ifo business climate indicator, which came in below expectations with a result which was the first fall after three months of increases.
Looking at local stocks, Firebird Metals Ltd (ASX:FRB) has achieved a key safety permit for construction of its battery-grade manganese sulphate plant in China’s Jinshi province.
Meanwhile, Matador Mining Ltd (ASX:MZZ) has identified a significant new zone of gold over a 1.2 kilometre area at its Malachite project in Canada.
New Zealand-based travel booking company Serko Ltd (ASX:SKO) has reported revenue growth of 48% in its full year Financial Results (for $71.2 million for the year). It recorded a $15.9 million net loss, but that was a better result than in FY23.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will be releasing retail sales data later on this morning.
In forex, the AUD is buying 66.5 US cents.
In commodities, brentcrude is at US$82.92/bbl, gold is at US$2,352.32/oz and copper sits at US$4.83/lb. Iron ore is US$117.66/tn and natural gas is around US$2.50 a gigajoule.
