Australian shares are struggling to pick how they will end the week, with the ASX 200 futures right now indicating a flat open this morning – a fairly clear sign that traders have yet to decide where they want to go next.
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Most of Week 39’s trading days have been red after hawkish rate cut sentiments from the U.S. Federal Reserve and a CPI print that pointed to inflation.
So, it would have made sense to coast into the 4pm Friday station with one last dip, but Oz traders must not be convinced that’s the way to go.
It was on Wall Street, at least, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones both losing as much as -0.5% on Thursday in the U.S. London was similarly down, with the FTSE shaving -0.39% as it banked in to close on the same day.
Most of that U.S. dip can be assigned to one thing, though: Tech stock Oracle dove as much as -5.7% on heavy volume as conversations around an “AI stock bubble” grew louder and louder across major markets.
With little AI exposure on the ASX, we may be spared somewhat by that sell-down.
Now, while we’re on company news – let’s talk stock headlines.
ASX stocks to watch
First up, Woodside Energy (ASX:WDS) should be a close watch today after Environmental Minister Murray Watt placed as many as 48 conditions on operations on the North West Shelf. Analysts have today warned those new conditions will “add to challenges already facing the Browse gas fields.”
Copper remains a hot topic to end the week, after a mudslide killed two workers at the world’s second-largest copper mine in Indonesia. BHP (ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) were both up +4% yesterday, while Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) advanced +8% and Capstone Copper (ASX:CSC) popped +11%.
Elsewhere, Advance Metals (ASX:AVM) has pocketed a win at Happy Valley, upgrading high-grade zones at the Victoria prospect on new assay data.
And, brokers have set Vault Minerals (ASX:VAU) as a “strong buy” after its dip.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the Aussie dollar buys 65.3 U.S. cents.
Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore is down -0.2%, selling at $105.95 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is up +0.4% at $69.60/bbl,
Gold has stayed strong to end W39, today selling at $3,752 an ounce, and,
US natgas futures are up +1.2%, to $2.89 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s ASX Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck, happy trading.
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