ASX starts higher as gold miners rally; CBA and Life360 tumble
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More news: Australian shares climbed at the open, tracking gains on Wall Street overnight, as gains by gold producers helped offset losses across the financial and technology sectors.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 13.2 points, or 0.15%, to 8,849.1 at 10:40am AEDT. Nine of the 11 sectoral indices were in positive territory.
Miners (+1.3%) formed the top performing sector as gold stocks followed rising spot gold prices overnight. Genesis Minerals (+5.8%), Capricorn Metals (+4.6%) and Perseus Mining (+4.3%) led the rally.
Financials (-1%) was one of only two sectors in negative territory after trading updates from Commonwealth Bank (-3.7%) and Bendigo Bank (-4.7%) saw both stocks sink.
Technology (-1.6%) stocks also lowered as Life360 shares dropped 4.3% after announcing a $120 million acquisition for advertising technology outfit Nativo.
Australian shares to lift after shutdown progress boosts Wall Street
The news: Australian shares are set to climb at the open after AI-related stocks paced gains on Wall Street, with investors buoyed by progress made in resolving the US government shutdown.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: up 22 points, or 0.24%, to 8,850
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.85%, S&P 500 up 1.49% and Nasdaq up 2.29%
- Europe: CAC 40 up 1.32%, DAX up 1.65% and FTSE 100 up 1.08%
- Spot gold: up 2.77% to USD4,112 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 0.68% to USD64.06/bbl and US WTI up 0.74% to USD60.19/bbl
- AUD: up 0.70% at 65.42 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 1.35% to USD106,142.
The context: All three of the major US indices jumped overnight, with AI heavyweights Nvidia (+5.6%), Tesla (+4.1%) and Palantir (+8.8%) among the stand-out performers.
The rally came after Republican and Democrat senators reached an initial compromise that would restore federal funding and put an end to the longest ever government shutdown. The White House also expressed support for the bipartisan deal. A final Senate vote is expected within days.
In the local market, Coles, Goodman Group and TPG Telecom all host their annual general meetings this morning.
