Australian shares to open higher as megacap tech drags Wall St
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The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher as Wall Street closed mixed overnight, with weakness in megacap technology stocks weighing on broader indices as investors continued to assess developments in US-Iran negotiations.
The numbers: Updated at 7:46am AEST:
- ASX futures: up 20 points to 8,830 points
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.29%, S&P 500 down 0.37%, Nasdaq down 1.32%
- Europe: FTSE 100 up 0.72%, CAC 40 down 0.25%, DAX up 0.62%
- Spot gold: up 0.96% to USD4,191 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent down 3.56% to USD77.71/barrel, US WTI down 4.26% to USD74.03/bbl
- AUD: down 0.15% at 70.00 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 1.51% to USD64,176
The context: The Dow Jones rose 0.3% on Monday, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed lower. SpaceX plunged 16.43%, its largest one-day decline, after launching its first debt offering as part of an expected borrowing program to fund its artificial intelligence expansion plans.
Other megacap stocks also fell, with Alphabet down 5% while Meta, Amazon and Microsoft declined 2.3%, 4.7% and 3.1% respectively.
Elsewhere, oil prices fell after Washington and Tehran agreed on a framework to pursue a final agreement within 60 days. US and Iranian officials made “great progress” during an initial round of talks in Switzerland that concluded early on Monday, Reuters reported, although tensions persisted over Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz.
The US granted Iran a 60-day licence to resume oil exports, providing an economic boost as negotiations continue. Vice President JD Vance described the talks as “very, very good” and said Iran had agreed to allow nuclear inspectors back into the country, according to Bloomberg.
Globally, Keir Starmer announced he would step down as UK prime minister on Monday, paving the way for former Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to succeed him.
On the data front, S&P Global is scheduled to release its flash composite, manufacturing and services PMI readings for June at 9:00am AEST.
