ASX swings to green as gold and uranium stocks push higher
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
More news: Australian shares erased early losses to edge into positive territory by midday AEST, as energy and mining stocks helped power a recovery.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 7.3 points, or 0.09%, to 8,587.4, with five of the 11 sectoral indices in the green.
Macquarie Technology Group led ASX 200 gains, up 8.2% after announcing plans for a new data centre campus in Sydney.
The energy sector added 0.8%, boosted by uranium miners Deep Yellow (4.8%), Paladin Energy (3.9%) and Boss Energy (2.3%).
Miners also rose 0.8%, aided by a 1.3% jump in iron ore giant BHP, and a broad rally by Australian gold miners.
ASX starts lower as Macquarie Technology and DroneShield rally
More news: Australian shares opened lower as consumer discretionary and industrials stocks led losses, while Macquarie Technology Group and DroneShield surged after making separate investment announcements this morning.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 15.1 points, or 0.18%, to 8,565 at 10:30am AEST. Eight of the 11 sectoral indices were in the red.
Diversified miner South32 was among the worst performing ASX 200 companies, shedding 4.2% after flagging an unquantified impairment on its Mozal Aluminium smelter in Mozambique.
Zip Co (-5.4%), Block (-5.1%) and Computershare (-4.4%) also saw sharp declines.
Macquarie Technology Group was the best performer on the ASX 200 index, up 4.9%, after its subsidiary Macquarie Data Centres entered a put and call option to purchase land in Sydney for a new data centre campus.
Meanwhile, anti-drone technology company DroneShield jumped 11.2% after announcing that it will invest $13 million in a new Sydney production facility.
Self-storage operator Abacus Storage King added 5.4% after receiving an improved, $2.2 billion takeover offer from South Africa’s Ki Corporation and US-listed Public Storage.
Australian shares to edge lower as Wall Street earnings season begins
The news: Australian shares are set to fall this morning as investors turn their attention to second-quarter earnings season on Wall Street, which kicks off this week.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEST:
- ASX futures: down 13 points to 8,548
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.63%, S&P 500 down 0.33%, and Nasdaq down 0.22%
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.92%, DAX down 0.82%, and FTSE 100 down 0.38%
- Spot gold: up 0.95% to USD3,356 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 0.38% to USD70.63/bbl, and US WTI up 0.44% to USD68.75/bbl
- AUD: down 0.32% to 65.66 US cents
- Bitcoin: down 0.18% to USD118,924.
The context: US stocks retreated from all-time highs on Friday as US President Donald Trump threatened a slate of new tariff measures, including a 35% tariff on Canadian goods.
This week, traders will turn their attention to second-quarter reports from the six biggest US banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. Netflix, Johnson & Johnson and 3M are also among those due to report.
New economic data in the US, including consumer price data on Tuesday and retail sales figures on Thursday, will also provide further insight into inflation trends and the impact of new tariffs on the US economy.
