ASX today – Early Week 45 is looking like it’s going to be red, with rising inflation snowballing into a likely RBA hold on Melbourne Cup day tomorrow, which has then led to furtive traders looking at their ‘sell’ buttons.
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We covered it at length here at The Market Link through last week, but the summary for anyone just catching up – especially those who didn’t want to check their ports last trading week – is that inflation’s latest quarter prints all pointed to a weighty core rise, more than +1% up through to September.
In simplest terms: There’s now “virtually no chance” the RBA will turn to their scissors on Tuesday afternoon, and Oz traders don’t like those vibes.
Wall Street did have a bumper end to its week after Amazon shared a stellar report, which mostly overshadowed the Federal Reserve’s own hawkish stance in W44, but that U.S. optimism hasn’t made it Down Under yet.
All this has come together in a glut that will see the ASX retreat -0.4% at open.
Now, with W45’s stage set, take a look at early week company news.
ASX stocks to watch
First up, critical minerals are again a hot watch this week after Australia and Canada prepare to sign an agreement focused on trading rare earths. Albanese thrashed out details with Mark Carney in the U.K. last month.
Elsewhere, Westpac (ASX:WBC) has seen its annual net profit slip as much as 1%, to $6.92 billion. The big four bank is also offloading its RAMS mortgage portfolio.
Coal magnate Matt Latimore is looking to knock shoulders with listed BlueScope Steel (ASX:BSL) and international suitors who have been vying to buy Whyalla in South Australia. The GFG-owned Whyalla produces 75% of all structural steel in Australia and has been in administration since February.
And, Mandrake Resources (ASX:MAN) has landed an offtake deal with Nasdaq-listed Stardust Power to use its U.S. lithium refiner.
Retailer Carma Limited is looking to list this Wednesday, too.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the Oz dollar buys 65.4 U.S. cents.
Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore has barely moved early this week, at $106.50 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is up +0.6% at $64.77/bbl,
Gold has hovered flat over the weekend, and is at $4,011 an ounce, and,
US natgas futures have run +4.2% higher, to $4.12 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck, happy trading.
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