ASX 200 futures were up 38 points (+0.38%) at 8:30 am Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) after the S&P/ASX 200 closed 9.2 points lower (-0.10%) yesterday.
Lithium names Liontown Resources, Pilbara Minerals and Mineral Resources extended gains, while broader critical minerals remained in favour. Consumer-facing stocks lagged as interest rate markets priced out at least one of the final two potential Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cuts, skewing market breadth towards decliners.
Sector moves were mixed: Consumer Discretionary (XDJ) -1.5% and Consumer Staples (XSJ) -0.60% led losses; Information Technology (XIJ) -1.2%, Real Estate (XPJ) -0.57%, Utilities -0.07% and Telecommunications Services (XTJ) -1.1% also fell. Financials (XFJ) +0.03%, Resources +0.12% and Healthcare (XHJ) +0.55% helped limit the damage. Within healthcare, ResMed rose 1.7% and Telix Pharmaceuticals gained 1.6%; smaller names included Mesoblast +9.4%, Artrya +6.4%, Race Oncology +5.2% and Clarity Pharmaceuticals +4.1%. Gold (XGD) eased 0.33% despite higher bullion and silver overnight.
Wall Street mixed
In the United States, equities were mixed as investors parsed minutes from the United States Federal Reserve’s (Fed) 16–17 September meeting: “most judged that it likely would be appropriate to ease policy further over the remainder of this year,” while “a majority of participants emphasised upside risks to their outlkooks for inflation.”
Nvidia added 2.2%. CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC “this year particularly the last six months, demand of computing has gone up substantially”. Advanced Micro Devices was +11.4%, Dell +9.1% and Datadog +6.2%.
The Dow Jones slipped 1 point; the S&P 500 gained 0.6%; the Nasdaq rose 1.1% to a record.
Europe's record highs
Europe pushed to record highs, led by France (+1.1%) and Spain (highest since 2007, +1.0%).
Steelmakers rallied after the European Commission proposed slashing tariff-free steel import quotas by nearly half, lifting ArcelorMittal, Aperam, Thyssenkrupp and SSAB by 4%–7%.
The basic resources sector gained 1.9%, the FTSEurofirst 300 rose 0.8% and London’s FTSE 100 added 0.7%.
Mixed currencies
Currencies were mixed.
- The euro eased from US$1.1644 to US$1.1596 and was near US$1.1630 at the United States close.
- The Australian dollar firmed from US65.56 cents to US65.87 cents, trading near US65.85 cents late.
- The Japanese yen weakened from ¥152.32 per US dollar to around ¥152.70 after touching ¥153.00.
Commodities firm
Commodities were broadly firmer.
Brent crude rose US80 cents (1.2%) to US$66.25 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate lifted US82 cents (1.3%) to US$62.55 as traders cited stalled Ukraine peace efforts and stronger United States oil consumption; United States inventories increased by 3.7 million barrels in the week to October 3.
Base metals were mixed: copper was flat and aluminium gained 0.7%. Gold futures jumped US$66.10 (1.7%) to a record US$4,070.50 per ounce, with spot near US$4,040, while iron ore edged up US7 cents to US$104.29 per tonne amid subdued China holiday trading.