The ASX200’s set to change direction this morning, dropping down about a quarter of a per cent.
That’s despite the Nasdaq claiming a new record high overnight amid a 0.6 per cent tech rally. Nvidia gained 2.5% and other chipmakers were also in the lead. The S&P500 was up a little, but the Dow Jones fell nearly half a per cent, dragged by JP Morgan Chase on its investor day – when the 68 year-old CEO Jamie Dimon made hints that retirement was on the horizon.
Meanwhile, gold hit a record high, just short of US$2450, amid political uncertainty in the wake of Iran President Ebrahim Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash. There is also mounting concerns over the health of the Saudi King.
Minister Madeleine King to address energy crowd
The Australian Energy Producers conference fires up in Perth with numerous high profile guests including Resources Minister Madeleine King and Meg O’Neill from Woodside this morning.
Notes from the Reserve Bank’s May meeting will be released at 11.30am eastern states time.
MinRes ships first ore from Onslow Iron Project
To company news, Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) is shipping its first ore from its Onslow Iron project for delivery to the world’s largest steelmaker in China. Two bulk carriers are being loaded with about 113,000 wet metric tonnes (wmt) of iron ore. The carriers are anchored 40 kilometres off the Port of Ashburton. This comes 11 months after ground was broken at the Ken’s Bore mine site.
And Cooper Energy (ASX:COE) will complete decommissioning of its BMG wells this week. The plugging’s been costly – the final figure will lie between $240 million and $280 million. The company’s pursuing an Indonesian enterprise for 10 per cent of the bill.
One Australian dollar is buying US66.6 cents.
Bitcoin’s added more than 4.5 per cent to be at US$69,226, following Ethereum jumping nearly 15 per cent.
Gold sets new record high
After hitting its new record, gold settled back to be trading below US$2430, iron ore’s been at around US$117, brent crude’s been sitting just below US$83.70 and natural gas is up more than 15.8% for the week at about US$2.75 a gigajoule.