Investing.com - The Australian Stock Exchange lifted 0.8% at Thursday's open as US stocks continued to build on their first-quarter gains.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a significant increase, adding 478 points to its value. The S&P 500, following suit, closed at an all-time high, trailing its intraday record by just 13 points, while the NASDAQ Composite added 0.5%. Tech giant Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose by 2.1%, while NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) faced a slight setback with a 2.5% decline.
During Thursday's local trade, Australian Clinical Labs Ltd (ASX:ACL), Sigma Healthcare (ASX:SIG), and Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX) are set to trade ex-dividend on Thursday.
ASX 200 Futures ticked slightly lower, while the Australian dollar saw a slight decrease of 0.2% to 65.34 US cents. Bitcoin also declined by 1.3% to $US68,886.
Among individual US stocks, BHP (ASX:BHP) Group Ltd ADR (NYSE:BHP) rose by 1.7%, Rio Tinto ADR (NYSE:RIO) by 2.1%, Atlassian Corp Plc (NASDAQ:TEAM) by 0.6%, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gained 1.2%. Tech giants saw mixed results with Apple up by 2.1%, Nvidia down by 2.5%, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) up by 0.2%, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) up by 0.9%, and Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) down by 0.4%.
In the commodities market, spot gold increased by 0.6% to $US2191.93 per ounce, while Brent crude oil dipped by 0.6% to $US85.73 per barrel. Iron ore prices also declined, dropping by 2.9% to $US101.15 per tonne. As for the 10-year yield, the U.S. stood at 4.19%, Australia at 4%, and Germany at 2.29%.
Locally, February's retail sales, private sector credit, and March's MI inflation expectations will be released at 11.30am. Internationally, New Zealand's March consumer confidence data is due at 8am; the UK's final fourth-quarter GDP will be out at 6pm, and the U.S. will release its fourth-quarter GDP at 11.30pm, along with February pending home sales, March Chicago PMI, Kansas City Fed index, and University of Michigan consumer sentiment.
Good Friday will see most developed markets, including the ASX, closed. The US, however, is scheduled to release its February personal income, spending, and Core PCE data at 11.30pm. On Sunday, China is expected to release its March manufacturing and services PMIs.