ASX tops 8,000 for first time in two weeks as miners rally
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More news: Miners and banks rallied in early trading on the ASX, tracking advances on Wall Street overnight and buoyed by expectations that Labor's federal budget will not impact the Reserve Bank's monetary easing path.
The ASX 200 index was up 0.76%, or 60.4 points, to 8,002.9 at 11:15am AEDT, topping the 8,000 mark for the first time in two weeks.
Materials, up 1.6%, was the best performing sector, with iron ore giants BHP (1.7%), Rio Tinto (1.4%) and Fortescue (0.7%) all notching gains.
Ramelius Resources (4.9%) and Spartan Resources (4.1%) were the two top performers across the ASX 200 index — after Macquarie delivered a positive take on the pair's $2.4 billion merger — leading a gold rally that also saw Bellevue Gold (2.9%), Newmont (2%) and Genesis Minerals (1.7%) climb.
Energy (1.1%) was the second best performing sector, boosted by oil producers Santos (1.5%), Karoon Energy (1.5%) and Beach Energy (1%), and coal miners Whitehaven (2%), New Hope (1.3%) and Yancoal (0.8%).
Elsewhere, shares in big four banks ANZ (1.8%), National Australia Bank (0.8%), Commonwealth Bank (0.8%) and Westpac (0.7%) advanced.
Wall Street optimism to lift ASX as tariff hopes rise
The news: The Australian sharemarket is set to open higher after Wall Street closed in positive territory with investors betting on a more flexible trade policy stance from the Trump administration next week.
The numbers: Updated at 7.25am AEDT:
- ASX futures: up 47 points or 0.59% at 8,033 points
- Wall Street: Dow Jones up 0.01%, S&P 500 up 0.16%, Nasdaq up 0.46%
- Europe: FTSE 100 up 0.30%, CAC 40 up 1.08%, DAX up 1.13%
- Spot gold: up 0.30% to USD3,020.02 per ounce
- Oil prices: Brent up 0.18% to USD73.13/bbl, US WTI up 0.03% to USD69.13/bbl
- AUD: up 0.23% at 63.00 US cents
- Bitcoin: up 0.83% to USD88,194.97.
The context: All three major US stock indices ended higher, led by Apple and Tesla, banking on Trump’s comments that not all proposed tariffs would be enforced in an April 2 announcement on which Wall Street is focused. That helped overshadow data showing a dip in US consumer confidence to its lowest since February 2021 and ratings agency Moody's saying that US' fiscal strength is on track for a continued multiyear decline as budget deficits widen and debt becomes less affordable.
What to watch: Monthly inflation data for February at 11.30am; Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers will address the National Press Club of Australia in his post-Budget address.
The source: Bloomberg
