ASX opens higher lifted by mining and energy stocks
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More news: Australian shares opened higher, supported by a lift across the mining, consumer staples and energy sectors.
The benchmark ASX 200 was up by 25.2 points, or 0.29%, to 8,717 at 10:28am AEDT. Four of the 11 sectoral indices opened in the green.
Mining (+1.38%) was the strongest performing sector at the open, driven by Lynas Rare Earths (+12.97%), Iluka Resources (+9.35%), Pantoro Gold (+3.95%) and Northern Star (+2.67%).
Ora Banda Mining (+12.87%) was among the top performing stocks across the ASX 200 after announcing a tenfold growth in its dam deposits.
However, tech (-1.40%) was the weakest performing sector, weighed by losses in Life360 (-6.40%), Megaport (-3%), Elsight (-3.17%) and Siteminder (-4.84%).
GQG Partners (-5.23%) was among the worst performing stocks despite reporting a 4% increase in funds under management.
Australian shares to open higher as Wall Street retreats on fading peace hopes
The news: Australian shares are set to open higher even as Wall Street lost momentum on Tuesday, giving up early gains to trade into negative territory as investors weighed fading hopes for an earlier-than-expected end to the ongoing Middle East conflict against renewed military threats and concerns over economic stagflation.
The numbers: Updated at 7:41am AEDT:
- ASX futures: up 24 points to 8,726.
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 0.07%, S&P 500 down 0.21% and the Nasdaq up 0.16%.
- Europe: CAC 40 up 1.79%, DAX up 2.39% and FTSE 100 up 1.59%.
- Spot gold: up 1.10% to USD5,196 per ounce.
- Oil prices: Brent down 7.90% to USD91.14/bbl and US WTI down 8.23% to USD86.96/bbl.
- AUD: up 0.62% at 71.12 US cents.
- Bitcoin: up 2.79% to USD70,297.
The context: All three major US indices traded lower overnight, reversing earlier gains as Donald Trump responded to reports that Iran was deploying mines in the Strait of Hormuz with threats of retaliation and renewed calls for Iran’s total surrender. The comments followed Trump’s suggestion on Monday that the conflict could end soon, which had briefly eased concerns over prolonged disruptions to global oil supplies.
Markets remained volatile through early trade after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that Tuesday could be the most intense day for strikes against Iran.
Further to this, the Trump administration signalled it may be willing to ease oil sanctions on Russia, according to Reuters, a move that helped ease upward pressure on oil prices and raised the prospect of progress towards ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. US crude and Brent futures both settled down more than 11%.
On the data front, investors are also awaiting key US economic data releases later this week including the Consumer Price Index, the Commerce Department’s second estimate of fourth-quarter GDP and the Personal Consumption Expenditures report.
Locally, the Australian Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release the industrial disputes data for December at 11:30am AEDT.
The source: Reuters
