Investing.com - The Australian stock market appears to be heading towards a slight decline at Friday's open as investors capitalize on recent gains following the market's most potent surge this year on Thursday.
ASX 200 Futures saw a increase of 0.5% after the S&P/ASX 200 closed just a hair's breadth away from a record high yesterday. This came on the back of encouraging jobs data, which sparked speculation that the Reserve Bank's next step might be an interest rate cut.
The mining sector is expected to be a hotspot, given the recent rally of iron ore prices in Singapore. This surge was triggered by a Bloomberg report suggesting that Chinese officials would convene on Friday to address the nation's struggling property market.
Copper also experienced an uptick, rising an additional 2% to reach its highest point since mid-April 2022, as reported by the National Australia Bank.
Despite the Dow Jones Industrial Average momentarily surpassing the 40,000-mark for the first time, indicating a surge in confidence that the US Federal Reserve may soon switch to rate cuts, Wall Street ended on a lower note.
In the spotlight today are BSP Financial Group Ltd (ASX:BFL) and Reef Casino Trust (ASX:RCT), as both are set to host their annual general meetings.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-year rates were at 4.257% while 2-year rates were at 3.962%.