The needle continues to wobble for international markets – US stocks fell on nervous movements in tech after weak demand in US treasury auctions while the Bank of Japan backed away from further rate rises in the immediate future, stabilising the yen and market sentiment.
ASX Futures are down 0.43% or 22 points as of 8:30am, having gained 0.38% or 29.2 points to 7,709.8 yesterday.
US and European markets
Leading stocks were down in the US. Super Micro Computer plunged 20.1% on below-estimate gross margins, Dell Technologies fell 7.2% and Micron Technology 2.5% following resumption of a share buyback program.
Walt Disney dipped 4.5% and Airbnb shed 13.4% as reduced consumer spending affected forward outlooks for the short-term rental company.
The S&P500 fell 0.8%, the Nasdaq 1.1% or 171 points and the Dow Jones 0.6% or 234 points.
European markets fared better. Bank stocks lifted 2.7%, buoying ABN Amro 5.6% on improved full-year net interest incomes.
It wasn’t all rosy though as Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) slumped 6.7%, its worst day since 2022, and Puma fell 10.8% on downward-adjusted full-year core profit expectations.
The FTSE300 had its best performance since November last year, lifting 1.5%, while the FTSE100 gained 1.8%.
Currencies and commodities
The Euro strengthened overnight but other currencies fell against the US dollar.
The Euro started the evening at US$1.0906 and closed it out at US$1.0920, while the Aussie fell from US$0.6574 to near US$0.6520 and the Japanese Yen eased from JPY146.18 per US dollar to near JPY146.80 at the US close.
Oil prices rose as US crude stocks fell, down 3.7 million barrels compared to expectations of 700,000.
Brent crude rose by US$1.85 or 2.4% to US$78.33 a barrel and US Nymex crude added US$2.03 or 2.8% to US$75.23 a barrel.
Base metals fell on weak demand from China and increasing inventories. Copper futures slid 1.8%, aluminium futures 0.2% and iron ore futures 1.1% or US$1.15 to US$101.71 a tonne.
Gold futures mostly remained steady as the US dollar and treasury bonds settled, gaining less than 0.1% or US$0.80 to US$2,432.40 an ounce.
On the small cap front
The ASX Small Ordinaries gained 0.54% yesterday, lifting in step with the ASX200’s 0.38% gain.
You can read about the following and more throughout the day on our website.
- Alkane Resources Ltd (ASX:ALK, OTC:ALKEF) has confirmed the presence of a large copper-zinc-lead-silver target at the Rockley Project in New South Wales, having completed seven scout drill holes over promising geochemical zones.
- Cobre Ltd (ASX:CBE) has welcomed results from a Trade-off Study completed by METS Engineering on the Ngami Copper Project, validating an in-situ recovery (ISR) copper extraction method for the project.
- Cadoux Ltd (ASX:CCM, OTCQB:FYIRF) has moved to the second phase of development of its small-scale pilot high purity alumina (HPA) plant, moving to the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) level of studies.
- Orion Minerals Ltd (ASX:ORN, JSE:ORN) has secured prospecting rights over key zones of the Okiep Copper Project in South Africa, offering full access to resources that can now be infilled to JORC-compliance levels.
- Kinetiko Energy Ltd (ASX:KKO, OTC:KKOEF) has intersected gas-bearing sequences totalling 90 metres in its 2024 core hold exploration program at the ER270 licence, offering confidence the gas basin extends throughout the company’s tenement package.