The ASX200 is set to gain more than half a percent, following US markets up as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both extended their winning streak to eight days of gains.
All US stocks were on an upward climb during Monday’s trading, building on previous strong gains and with more than $3 trillion added to the market after lows early on in the month. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose 1% and 1.2% each, while the Dow Jones was up 236 points.
All sectors closed in the green, and investors were also looking ahead to a speech by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium, in anticipation of a rate cut decision.
Over on the ASX, engineering company Monadelphous Group Ltd (ASX:MND) told investors its net profit after tax for the 2024 fiscal year had grown 16.2% to $62.2 million, while revenue also rose 11% to $2.03 billion.
The latter figure was building on a record revenue for maintenance and industrial services across the financial year: this sector of the business came in at $1.32 billion, while revenue from engineering construction rose 31.5% to $712.7 million.
Meanwhile, West African Resources Ltd (ASX:WAF) said it had hit an intercept of 45 metres at 7.3 grams per tonne of gold below reserves at the M1 South Deeps resource – part of the Sanbrado gold operations in Burkino Faso.
The discovery was made during a program of resource definition diamond drilling, which showed that high-grade mineralisation of the resource was continuous, and confirmed geometry there.
And Vicinity Centres Trust (ASX:VCD) has snapped up a 50% interest in Perth’s Lakeside Joondalup shopping centre for $420 million.
CEO and managing director Peter Huddle said the site had been on Vicinity’s target list for a while, partly due to its impressive retail sales profile – bringing in $800 million annually – and also because the suburb of Joondalup is expected to become Perth’s second Central Business District in the future.
In Forex, one Aussie dollar is at 67 US cents.
Gold fell to around US$2502.80, after an all-time high on Monday.
Iron Ore is down to US$97.81.
Brent Crude is at US$77.71 a barrel and natural gas is at $2.24 a gigajoule.