Investing.com - Following a four-day Christmas break, Australian shares opened in positive territory on Wednesday, taking cues from the New York stock market and global commodity trends.
Though ASX futures were slightly down in the last trading session on Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 ended marginally lower by 2.5 points at 7501.6. The marginal decline was counterbalanced by gains in the energy and real estate sectors, which offset a drag in consumer staples.
In New York on Tuesday, all three major benchmarks ended the session on a high note. The S&P 500, although slightly off from its session peak, managed to reach as high as 4784.72 before closing at 4774.75. The record high of 4796.56 was set on January 3, 2022.
Bitcoin managed to recover from earlier losses that briefly pushed it below $US42,000.
According to Mastercard (NYSE:MA) SpendingPulse, which tracks both in-store and online retail sales across all payment methods, retail sales in the U.S. rose 3.1% year-on-year from November 1 to December 24. Spending increased across various categories, with restaurants witnessing one of the largest jumps at 7.8%. Apparel saw a 2.4% increase, and groceries also reported gains.
In New York, the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq saw increases of 0.4%, 0.4%, and 0.5% respectively near 4pm. Among individual stocks, BHP (ASX:BHP) Group Ltd ADR (NYSE:BHP) was up 0.6%, Rio Tinto ADR (NYSE:RIO) increased by 0.5%, Atlassian Corp Plc (NASDAQ:TEAM) rose 1.8%, and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gained 1.6%. However, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) saw a minor decline of 0.3%.
Europe's major markets were closed on Tuesday. Spot gold rose by 0.3% to $US2058.45/oz at 1.59pm in New York. Brent crude surged 3% to $US81.45 a barrel, and iron ore increased by 1.1% to $US140.25 a tonne.
The S&P 500 saw a 0.8% rise last week, ending less than 1% away from its January 2022 record high. It has posted eight consecutive weekly gains.
No local data is expected to be released today. Overseas, China's November industrial profits will be announced at 12.30pm and the U.S. Richmond Fed December index will be released.
In other news, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) has filed an appeal against the U.S. watch import ban and requested a pause on the ban until a ruling in mid-January. Meanwhile, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) confirmed a $US25 billion investment in Israel after securing $US3.2 billion in incentives from the Israeli government. The announcement drove Intel's shares up by more than 4% in New York.