ASX jumps nearly 3% at the open; DroneShield dives on CEO exit
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More news: The Australian sharemarket opened sharply higher after US President Donald Trump announced a two-week suspension of US military strikes on Iran.
The benchmark ASX 200 index was up 2.7% to 8,960.4 at 10:30am AEST.
Eight of the 11 sectoral indices were in positive territory with materials (+4.6%) and technology (+4.2%) leading gains.
Miners Bellevue Gold (+14.4%), Greatland Resources (+10.7%) and Ora Banda Mining (+9.5%) were among the top performers.
Flight Centre rose 9.7% after agreeing to sell its 47% interest in bicycle company Pedal Croup for $62 million.
Meanwhile, energy stocks slumped 7.5%, with oil and gas majors Karoon Energy (-12.4%), Woodside Energy (-9.3%), Beach Energy (-7.1%) and Santos (-6.3%) all retreating.
DroneShield tumbled 17.5% after announcing the departure of longtime chief executive Oleg Vornik.
Australian shares set to lift as Trump’s Iran war deadline looms
The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher after Wall Street saw a mixed trading session overnight after US President Donald Trump escalated his threats against Iran ahead of a deadline to re-open the Strait of Hormuz, which Pakistan has sought to delay.
The numbers: Updated at 7:40am AEST:
- ASX futures: up 13 points, or 0.2%, to 8,775
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.18%, S&P 500 up 0.08% and the Nasdaq up 0.10%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.67%, DAX down 1.06% and FTSE 100 down 0.84%
- Spot gold: up 1.22% to USD4,706.51 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent down 6.1% to USD103.11/bbl and US WTI up 0.48% to USD112.95/bbl
- AUD: up 0.04% at 69.77 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 0.72% to USD69,827.55
The context: On Tuesday morning in the US, Trump said in a social media post that a “whole civilization will die tonight”, ramping up threats to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran if Tehran did not agree to a deal that would re-open the Strait of Hormuz.
The three Wall Street indices plunged and oil prices soared before markets reversed after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for Trump’s deadline to be delayed by two weeks. Earlier, the price of Dated Brent, a key benchmark price for shipments traded in the North Sea, hit USD144.42 per barrel, the highest since records began in 1987.
Israel also confirmed that it had struck bridges and railways across Iran while the US bombed Iran’s main oil hub Kharg Island. However, US strikes were characterised by a US military official as “restrikes” on previously hit sites that did not include energy infrastructure, according to the New York Times.
Iran responded by striking Saudi Arabia’s Jubail petrochemical complex, according to the Iranian Revolutionary GuardS Corp, and Iran’s UN mission overnight ruled out a temporary ceasefire.
The sources: Bloomberg, Financial Times
