ASX opens higher as mining stocks rallies
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More news: Australian shares opened higher driven by a rally in the mining sector, which accounted for seven of the top performers across the ASX 200.
The benchmark ASX 200 index was up 40.3 points, or 0.46% to 8,799 at 10:24am AEDT. Seven of the 11 sectorial indices opened in the green.
Mining stocks led early gains, lifted by Alcoa Corporation (+4.49), Iluka Resources (+3.33%), Catalyst Metals (+3.20%), Paladin Energy (+3.03%), Sandfire Resources (+2.87%) and Nickel Industries (+2.71%).
Endeavour Group (-4.46%) was the worst performer across the ASX 200 after flagging a lower half-year profit in FY26.
GQG Partners also fell (-4.45%) after reporting a $3.3 billion fall in funds under management in December.
Utilities (-1.02%) was the worst performing sector in early trade, dragged lower by Origin Energy (-3.04%), Frontier Energy (-4.08%), APA Group (-1.22%) and AGL Energy (-1.11%).
Australian shares to open higher as Wall Street digests Fed subpoena
The news: Australian shares are set to open higher despite Wall Street's major indices trading lower overnight after reports that the Department of Justice (DOJ) threatened Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell with a potential criminal indictment related to his congressional testimony on a renovation project.
US financial stocks also came under pressure after Trump posted on his Truth Social on Friday calling for a one-year-cap on credit card interest rates at 10%, prompting declines in shares of Capital One Financial Corp, American Express and JPMorgan Chase.
The numbers: Updated at 7:26am AEDT:
- ASX futures: up 27 points, or 0.30% to 8,788.
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.06%, S&P 500 up 0.25% and the Nasdaq up 0.43%.
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.04%, DAX up 0.57% and FTSE 100 up 0.16%.
- Spot gold: up 2.06% to USD4,604 per ounce.
- Oil prices: Brent up 0.77% to USD63.82/bbl and US WTI up 0.46% to USD59.39/bbl.
- AUD: up 0.39% at 67.14 US cents.
- Bitcoin: up 0.86% to USD91,484.
The context: US stocks, bonds and the dollar slipped early on Wall Street after the Trump administration escalated its attack on Jerome Powell, but later steadied as some saw little immediate risk of Trump gaining control over the Fed’s rate-setting committee.
The S&P 500 index set a new intraday record high of 6,986.33 before easing slightly in late afternoon trading. Walmart rose over 3%, with the retail giant set to join the Nasdaq 100 index on 20 January.
Among AI stocks, Alphabet scaled $4 trillion market valuation for the first time.
On the data front, traders are now focused on the upcoming US CPI data for December to be released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, due at 12:30am AEDT.
The source: Reuters
