ASX starts higher as gold miners rally; QBE drops on trading update
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More news: Australian shares opened higher with tech and healthcare stocks leading early gains. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 19.1 points, or 0.22%, to 8,625.6 at 10:30am AEDT. Nine of the 11 sectoral indices were in the green.
Gold miners were among the top performers, tracking rising spot prices overnight. Regis Resources and Newmont Corporation both added around 4%.
Construction and mining contractor NRW Holdings (+2.7%) also rallied after upgrading its FY26 guidance for the second time in two months.
Meanwhile, QBE Insurance (-4%) was the worst performer on the ASX 200 after announcing a $450 million share buyback this morning.
Suncorp (-2.9%) was also lower after estimating $350 million in costs due to storm damage in south-east Queensland and parts of northern New South Wales.
Australian shares to rise as Wall St rally extends on surging rate cut hopes
The news: Australian shares are set to open higher after Wall Street's three main indices advanced overnight, with new economic data spurring investor optimism for a rate cut next month.
The numbers: Updated at 7:30am AEDT:
- ASX futures: up 30 points, or 0.34%, to 8,656
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.87%, S&P 500 up 0.84% and Nasdaq up 1.06%
- Europe: CAC 40 up 0.88%, DAX up 1.11% and FTSE 100 up 0.85%
- Spot gold: up 0.87% to USD4,167 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 0.98% to USD63.09/bbl and US WTI up 1.20% to USD58.64/bbl
- AUD: up 0.79% at 65.22 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 3.09% to USD90,032.
The context: US stocks extended gains for a fourth consecutive session, as traders increasingly priced in a cut to interest rates in December.
New data showed US jobless claims unexpectedly fell to 216,000, the lowest since April, while continuing claims edged up, reinforcing views the labour market is cooling but not collapsing.
CME data cited by Reuters showed traders see an 84.9% chance of a 25-basis-point Fed cut next month, nearly double the odds from a week earlier.
