It will be another bumpy rise for the ASX today with ASX 200 futures down 10pts (-0.12%) as of 8:30 am AEDT.
The ASX200 closed 11 points lower (-0.14%) yesterday at 8,240, weighed down by declines in the Materials (-1.61%), Real Estate (-1.37%) and Telecommunications (-1.12%) sectors. In contrast, Energy (+1.29%), Financials (+0.71%) and Industrials (+0.51%) outperformed.
The index touched a six-week low of 8,210 before a rebound in major banks limited losses. At that low, the ASX200 had declined 4.70% from its mid-February peak of 8,615. With two trading sessions remaining in February, the index is down 3.42% month-to-date, reversing much of January’s 4.57% gain.
Earnings results were mixed. Appen plunged 33% to A$1.92 after reporting a 14% drop in revenue, driven by Google’s termination of its contract, resulting in a net loss of A$20 million.
Flight Centre declined 10.16% to A$15.92 as its first-half underlying profit of A$117 million fell short of the A$127 million consensus, with net profit before tax down 27% to A$88 million.
Among gainers, Worley surged 10.27% to A$15.46 after announcing a A$500 million on-market share buyback. Tyro Payments rose 5.59% to A$0.94, supported by a 4.7% increase in revenue and a 20.6% rise in EBITDA.
Key earnings reports today include Coles, Endeavour, IDP Education, Qantas and Ramsay Health Care.
Tariff talk in US keeps markets mixed
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended their four-day losing streaks overnight as investors awaited Nvidia’s earnings report and assessed the latest tariff comments from US President Donald Trump.
“Trump indicated there might be an additional month-long delay before imposing steep new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, suggesting they could take effect on April 2 from March 4 previously. He also mentioned a potential 25% 'reciprocal' tariff on European cars and other goods,” IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore noted.
“Tesla's struggles continued, with its share price dropping 3.96% to $290.80 following reports of weak sales in Europe and dissatisfaction with its partially automated driving system. The stock must maintain support at the 200-day moving average of $277 to preserve some of the gains from its post-US election rally.
“As has become customary, Nvidia reported an earnings beat at both the top and bottom lines, with earnings per share (EPS) of $0.89 compared to $0.84 expected and revenue of $39.3 billion versus the $38.04 billion expected. Nvidia projected first-quarter revenue of about $43 billion, plus or minus 2%, vs $41.78 billion expected. The company reported $11 billion in Blackwell revenue during the fourth quarter.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang remarked, "Demand for Blackwell is amazing as reasoning AI adds another scaling law—increasing compute for training makes models smarter, and increasing compute for long thinking makes the answer smarter."
Despite exceeding earnings expectations, market reaction has been muted. Ahead of the conference call, which began at 9:00 AM AEDT, Nvidia's share price declined 0.37% in after-hours trading to $130.80, remaining 15% below its record high of $153.13 earlier this year.
European markets hit record high
European sharemarkets closed at a record high on Wednesday, driven by corporate earnings and investor reaction to a critical minerals agreement between the United States and Ukraine.
Banking stocks advanced 2.5%, while insurers gained 2.4%. Germany’s Munich Re surged 4.8% after reporting annual operating profit that exceeded expectations. The continent-wide FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 1%.
In London, the FTSE 100 index climbed 0.7%. Mining stocks, including Glencore, Anglo-American and Antofagasta, rose between 2% and 3.6% following a power outage in Chile, the world’s largest copper producer.
Currencies and commodities
Currencies
Currencies showed mixed performance against the US dollar in European and US trade.
- The euro strengthened from US$1.0475 to US$1.0522 before settling near US$1.0485 at the US close.
- The Australian dollar weakened from US63.36 cents to US62.97 cents, ending near US63.00 cents.
- The Japanese yen firmed from JPY149.87 per US dollar to JPY148.80, before closing around JPY149.00.
Commodities
Global oil prices fell on demand concerns after US crude stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, increased by 1.3 million barrels to 24.6 million barrels last week, their highest level since November.
- Brent crude declined US49 cents, or 0.7%, to US$72.53 per barrel.
- US Nymex crude dropped US31 cents, or 0.4%, to US$68.62 per barrel.
Base metal prices gained ground, with copper futures rising 1.2% after the US moved closer to imposing tariffs on imports. Aluminium futures increased 0.5%.
- Gold prices edged higher, with gold futures adding US$11.80, or 0.4%, to US$2,930.60 per ounce as investors awaited US inflation data. Spot gold traded near US$2,917 at the US close.
- Iron ore futures slipped by US2 cents, or less than 0.1%, to US$107.15 per tonne, pressured by weak Chinese steel export outlook and escalating US-China trade tensions.
What about small caps?
The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO) lost 0.67% yesterday to land at 3,152.70. Over the past five days it is down 2.87%.
News is trickling in so far but you can read about the following and more throughout the day.
- Novo Resources Corp has provided an update on its exploration activities for the first half of 2025, focusing on newly acquired assets in New South Wales. Field teams have completed mapping and sampling programs at the Tibooburra and John Bull gold projects, aiming to refine geological interpretations and identify controls on mineralisation. The findings will assist in defining priority drill targets for the second quarter of 2025. Results from the sampling campaigns are expected by mid-March 2025.
- Pantoro Ltd has completed 83 grade control holes in the central and southern sections of the Scotia orebody, identifying multiple zones of wide and high-grade gold mineralisation. Development across the first three levels has confirmed mineralisation outside the current ore reserve, highlighting potential for an expanded mine plan.
- Tolu Minerals Ltd has provided an update on the final commissioning of the gravity gold recovery plant at the Tolukuma gold mine, following its announcement in late January 2025. As part of the phased restart of the Tolukuma mine and the ramp-up towards initial production and revenue, Tolu has procured and installed a modular gravity gold recovery plant. The plant is expected to generate revenue through the production of gold-silver doré while also facilitating advanced testwork on comminution performance and gravity recovery of both metals.
- Imugene has been granted a patent in India for its exclusively licensed CF33 oncolytic virotherapy technology. Under patent number 558994, the term of this patent is 20 years from the filing date of August 9, 2017, adding to the patent protection in the United States (granted on September 10, 2024, Pat. No. 12,084,687) and Japan (Patent Application No. 2023-200433), both within the same oncolytic patent family.