ASX edges higher, Monadelphous leads gains following contract win
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More news: Australian shares opened slightly higher, with technology and healthcare stocks leading early gains across the ASX 200.
The benchmark ASX 200 index was up 4 points, or 0.05% to 8,699 at 10:27am AEDT. Seven of the 11 sectorial indices opened in the green.
Monadelphous (+5.22%) was the top performer at the open after securing a series of contracts, including a four-year agreement worth $110 million in aggregate with BW Offshore Australia to provide maintenance services at the BW Opal floating production storage and offloading facility in the Northern Territory.
Ramelius Resources (-2.58%) fell despite reaffirming it remains on track to meet its FY26 gold production guidance.
Ansell (-2.98%) also declined after announcing the retirement of chief executive Neil Salmon following 13 years with the company.
Meanwhile, communication services (-0.38%) was the worst performing sector, dragged lower by TPG Telcom (-1.80%), Telstra (-0.83%), Southern Cross Media (-0.64%) and Superloop (-0.40%)
International trade in goods data for November 2025 remains in focus, with the release due at 11:30am AEDT today.
Australian shares to open lower as S&P500 climbs to record high
The news: Australian shares are set to open marginally lower following Wednesday’s inflation data, which showed consumer price index growth slowed to 3.4% in the 12 months to November, below consensus expectations. Wall Street however surged overnight with the S&P 500 climbing to a record high, supported by gains in megacap tech stocks amid renewed optimism around artificial intelligence.
Wall Street investors' focus has now shifted to the latest US job openings data, after openings fell to their lowest level of the year in November.
The numbers: Updated at 7:45am AEDT:
- ASX futures: down 7 points, or 0.08% to 8,705.
- Wall Street: Dow Jones down 1%, S&P 500 down 0.27% and Nasdaq up 0.17%.
- Europe: CAC 40 down 0.04%, DAX up 0.09% and FTSE 100 down 0.74%.
- Spot gold: down 0.86% to USD4,467 per ounce.
- Oil prices: Brent down 0.71 to USD60.26/bbl and US WTI down 1.51 to USD56.26/bbl.
- AUD: down 0.20% at 67.24 US cents.
- Bitcoin: down 2.91% to USD91,047.
The context: The S&P 500 surged to a record high on Wednesday New York time as AI-related stocks including Nvidia, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Broadcom advanced, supported by continued optimism around artificial intelligence.
Overnight data also showed US job openings fell more than expected in November to a 12 month low, alongside slower hiring. The decline in vacancies and hiring suggests employers remain cautious about making significant changes to headcount, reinforcing views that the labour market is softening.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the number of available positions decreased to 7.15 million in November, from 7.45 million in October.
Elsewhere, local attention will turn to Australia’s international trade in goods data for November 2025, due to be released by the ABS at 11:30am AEDT.
