There’s been a flow-on heading into Thursday, with more and more U.S. traders betting on interest rate cuts, leading the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to more record highs – and in turn, pushing Australian shares onto a green day.
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ASX 200 futures point to a +0.39% rise at open, with nearly all of that coming on the back of Wall Street’s surge; the S&P added +0.3%, the Dow +1%.
Markets are largely green across the world too, with the FTSE adding +0.2% yesterday.
So too the Nikkei in early trade: Tokyo’s exchange has leapt +1.3% higher.
The ASX has been regularly flirting with a charge for 9,000 – which I’ve covered comprehensively on the HotCopper Wire podcast – and this only helps those lofty goals.
Now, in company news, Telstra (ASX:TLS) reported early: The telecom giant delivered a $2.34 billion annual net profit, up +31% year on year. Through the same time, it’s also managed to shave operational costs by 6%.
It’s also selling Versent to Infosys for $233 million, with $175M of that coming upfront.
Another bourse leader, Westpac (ASX:WBC) delivered a “sound” quarterly result, with new chief Anthony Miller heralding net profit up +14%, to $1.9 billion.
And, Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) has a positive outlook for the year ahead, setting dividends at 30c after gains from the electricity and gas supplier’s LNG business “more than offset lower earnings from energy retailing.”
Expect a few more earnings reports today, too, including Temple and Webster (ASX:TPW) and medical imaging producer Pro Medicus (ASX:PME).
Some stats are up today too, with Australia’s July jobs report scheduled for 11.30am.
More market news
Gov’t help: Oz likely to get commodity supports, but don’t expect Trumpian flair
All-time rise: XJO hits new ATH on RBA cut – is 9,000 by EOY too low?
Looking at forex, the Aussie dollar buys 65.4 US cents.
And then to commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore is down -0.7%, selling at around $103.70 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is at $65.76,
Gold ticked up, selling at $3,360 per ounce, and,
US natgas futures halted their slide to sell at $2.81 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck and happy trading.
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