Australian shares lift as Light & Wonder soars; James Hardie tanks before trading pause
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More news: Australian shares opened higher after a raft of quarterly updates boosted a several ASX 200 stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 43.2 points, or 0.49%, to 8,845.2 at 10:45am AEDT. Ten of the 11 sectoral indices were in positive territory.
Light & Wonder (+10.1%), Breville (+5.2%) and Amcor (+5.1%) were among the top performers after posting positive quarterly trading updates this morning.
Meanwhile, gold stocks Bellevue Gold (+2.9%), Catalyst Metals (+2.8%) and Northern Star (+2.6%) all tracked spot gold prices higher.
James Hardie (-9.4%) tanked at the open before entering a trading halt pending a further announcement. A sales update from Neuren Pharmaceuticals (-4.2%) saw its shares lower while IPH (-2.2%) fell after announcing the retirement of CEO Andrew Blattman.
Australian shares to rise as US stocks rebound on data, earnings
The news: Australian shares are poised to climb at the open after US stocks rebounded overnight, buoyed by upbeat third-quarter earnings and better-than-expected economic data.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: up 69 points, or 0.78%, to 8,853
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.68%, S&P 500 up 0.78% and Nasdaq up 1.09%
- Europe: CAC 40 up 0.08%, DAX up 0.42% and FTSE 100 up 0.64%
- Spot gold: up 1.43% to USD3,988 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent down 1.45% to USD63.51/bbl and US WTI down 1.57% to USD59.61/bbl
- AUD: up 0.31% at 65.11 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 2.63% to USD104,303.
The context: All three main Wall Street indices ended higher after a sharp selloff in the previous session, weighed down by bearish sentiment over stretched equity valuations.
Fast food giant McDonald's (+2.6%) and Tinder parent Match Group (+5.9%) both gained after posting quarterly earnings, while tech group Super Micro Computer (-9.5%) tumbled.
Investors were encouraged by new private payrolls data by payroll processing company ADP, which saw private sector businesses add around 42,000 jobs in October, swinging back into positive territory after back-to-back declines.
There were also signs that US President Donald Trump's sweeping global tariffs — which hammered stocks earlier in the year — may be rolled back after US Supreme Court justices raised doubts about their legality.
In the local market, Breville Group, Seven West Media and Vicinity Centres are among the companies set to host their annual general meetings this morning.
