The Australian sharemarket is expected to open steady on Friday, with futures down just 4 points (-0.04%) at 8:30 am AEST. Wall Street inched out fresh record highs overnight, but the spotlight remains on Washington’s deepening shutdown and oil’s slide to its weakest level since June.
Wall Street edges up despite data blackout
US equities posted another modest advance, enough to carry the major benchmarks into record territory. The S&P 500 gained 0.1%, the Dow rose 0.2% and the Nasdaq added 0.4%.
Technology shares once again led the move, underpinned by continued excitement around artificial intelligence. A secondary share sale lifted OpenAI’s valuation to around US$500 billion, fuelling a rally across the broader chip sector. Samsung and SK Hynix also confirmed new supply agreements with OpenAI to provide memory chips for its expanding data centre build-out, which helped drive semiconductor stocks higher. Nvidia extended its own record run as investors piled into the AI hardware theme.
Tesla fell more than 5% despite delivering a record 500,000 vehicles for the quarter, with markets instead focusing on the end of US EV tax credits and the likely impact on future sales. Healthcare stocks also weighed.
With the US government shutdown now in its second day, traders face a patchy picture: jobless claims and factory orders have already been delayed, and tonight’s payrolls report may not arrive. Fed officials have urged caution on further rate cuts, citing persistent inflation, but the lack of data leaves policy expectations murky. Bond yields dipped, with the US 10-year easing to 4.08%.
ASX yesterday: Lithium rebounds, uranium sparks rally
The S&P/ASX 200 jumped 100 points (+1.13%) on Thursday to 8,946, snapping a two-day lull after the RBA left rates unchanged earlier in the week.
Health care (+2.0%) and materials (+1.8%) drove the benchmark, with miners rebounding sharply. Lithium stocks staged a remarkable turnaround from Wednesday’s selloff, while uranium names surged alongside a stronger spot price. Financials (+1.2%) also lent support as CBA broke out of a recent downtrend.
Energy (+1.1%) found buyers despite global crude weakness, while defensives such as staples (-0.05%) and utilities (-0.2%) lagged. The Small Ords rose 1.3%, outpacing the benchmark.
Commodities and currencies: Oil tumbles, copper climbs
Oil prices extended their slide, with Brent down 1.6% to US$64.27 and WTI down 2.1% at US$60.48, the lowest since early June, as OPEC+ prepares to discuss adding supply. The sector may come under renewed pressure in local trade.
Gold eased 0.3% to US$3,853 an ounce, easing back from record highs set earlier in the week, while silver also dipped 0.7%. Copper jumped 1.4% to a 16-month high on supply concerns, while zinc added nearly 1%. Iron ore held steady around US$104 per tonne.
The Australian dollar is trading at US66 cents, little changed, while Bitcoin surged past US$120,000, extending a six-day winning streak amid safe-haven flows.
What’s on today
Corporate calendars are in focus as AGM season kicks off. AGL Energy (ASX:AGL) holds its annual meeting, while Myer and Ridley Corporation and Steamships Trading trade ex-dividend. Dividend payments today include CSL, Origin Energy, Evolution Mining, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises and a string of mid-caps.
In early small caps news flow, European Lithium Ltd (ASX:EUR, OTCQB:EULIF) has unveiled plans for an on-market share buy-back of up to 135 million shares, or around 10% of its issued capital. The buy-back is expected to commence from mid-October.
On the macro front, Australia’s services PMI will be released this morning. Overseas, investors await Eurozone and US services activity data — though the shutdown leaves doubt over whether key payrolls numbers will be published.