Australian shares edge higher after positive Wall Street finish
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More news: The Australian sharemarket is slightly higher in early trading after overnight gains on Wall Street as muted corporate outlooks weigh on investor sentiment.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 12.80 points or 0.16% to 8,158.40 after the first 20 minutes of trade, with the materials, technology and consumer sectors in the red. Top miner BHP was trading lower, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue saw slight gains. Energy majors Woodside and Santos also added around 0.5% each following a rebound in crude oil prices. Each of the Big Four banks was also trading higher.
However, local technology stocks edged lower after earnings from both Amazon.com and Apple disappointed, while ASX-listed shares of Block tumbled more than 26% after the payments giant missed earnings estimates and cut its forecast.
Earlier, all three major US stock indices ended with gains despite economic data painting a mixed picture, with US weekly jobless claims potentially hinting at a pick-up in job cuts following Trump’s tariffs, while US manufacturing contracted further in April.
Australian shares to open lower as Big Tech earnings sway sentiment
The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open lower despite a positive finish on Wall Street amid mixed economic data and a weaker-than-expected forecast from Amazon.
The numbers: Updated at 7.25am AEDT:
- ASX futures: down 32 points or 0.39% at 8,130 points
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.21%, S&P 500 up 0.63%, Nasdaq up 1.52%
- Europe: FTSE 100 up 0.02%, CAC 40 up 0.50%, DAX up 0.32%
- Spot gold: down 1.51% at USD3,239.20 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 1.31% to USD61.86/bbl, US WTI up 1.77% to USD59.24/bbl
- AUD: down 0.01% at 63.81 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 2.47% to USD96,564.86.
The context: All three major US stock indices ended with gains after strong results from megacaps Microsoft and Meta but investor sentiment was dented after fellow heavyweight Amazon.com’s earnings as growth in its cloud unit lagged. Disappointing China sales from Apple also saw the iphone-maker’s shares drop in after hours trading. Earlier, US economic data painted a mixed picture with weekly jobless claims showed layoffs increased more than expected last week, potentially hinting at a pick-up in job cuts following tariffs, while PMI data showed US manufacturing contracted further in April.
What to watch: Retail sales data for March at 11.30am AEST
