The ASX is set to slip into the red today. ASX 200 futures are trading nine points lower, down -0.13% as of 8:20 am AEDT.
The down direction follows a solid day yesterday which saw the ASX200 finish 52 points (0.74%) higher at 7087. The Industrials (+1.43%), IT (+1.29%) and Financial (+1.24%) sectors outperformed. The Energy (-0.26%) and the Utilities (-0.95%) sectors were the only two to close lower on the day.
“It's been noticeable in recent sessions that after a strong start, the ASX200 has faded over the course of the day,’ IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore said.
“It's unclear what has been the cause of the selling; however, with month-end imminent, the ASX200 surged yesterday afternoon to close at its highest level in two weeks, aided by an MSCI rebalancing flow going through.”
MSCI's world stock index closed the month up around 9% – its best performance since November 2020,
Today’s ASX decline follows a dip by the Nasdaq (-0.87%) and the S&P 500 (-0.18%), however, the S&P 500 enjoyed its best monthly gain since July 2022, while the Dow rallied to a fresh year-to-date high.
What happened yesterday?
Here’s what we saw (source Commsec)
US markets
Were mixed on Thursday. Higher US Treasury yields, which make returns on stocks less appealing, weighed on equities.
Nvidia, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fell between 1.7% and 2.9%, keeping the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes under pressure. But the Dow Jones index breached its 2023 intraday high, as cloud-based software firm Salesforce jumped 9.4% on an upbeat profit forecast. Data cloud company Snowflake added 7.1% after it forecast fourth-quarter product revenue above market estimates.
- The Dow Jones index rose by 520 points or 1.5%.
- The S&P 500 index gained 0.4%
- The Nasdaq index shed 32 points or 0.2%.
- In November, the Dow rose by 8.8%, recording the biggest monthly gain since October 2022. And the S&P 500 jumped 8.9% with the Nasdaq soaring 10.7%, both posting the largest monthly gains since July 2022.
European markets
Closed higher on Thursday as investors assessed inflation data that suggests pressures from rising prices are easing. Euro zone inflation slowed to 2.4% year-on-year in November from 2.9% in October (survey: 2.7%). German retail sales rose by 1.1% in October (survey: +0.4%). Insurance stocks gained 1.1% with ASR Nederland's shares up 13% after its final settlement with interest groups.
- The continent-wide FTSEurofirst 300 index rose by 0.6% and was up 6% in November, the biggest lift since January.
- In London, the UK FTSE 100 index added 0.4% and was up 1.8% for the month.
Currencies
Were weaker against the US dollar in European and US trade.
- The Euro fell from US$1.0980 to US$1.0882 and was near US$1.0890 at the US close.
- The Aussie dollar dipped from 66.49 US cents to 65.70 US cents and was near 66.10 US cents at the US close.
- The Japanese yen eased from 146.88 yen per US dollar to JPY148.48 and was near JPY148.20 at the US close.
Commodities
Global oil prices fell on Thursday after OPEC+ oil producers agreed to voluntary output cuts approaching 2 million barrels per day for early next year that fell short of market expectations.
- The Brent crude price fell by US27 cents or 0.3% to US$82.83 a barrel.
- The February contract, which begins trading as the front month on Friday, fell US$2.00, or 2.4% to US$80.86.
- The US Nymex crude price shed US$1.90 or 2.4% to $75.96 a barrel.
Base metal prices were mixed on Thursday.
- Copper futures gained 1.1% but aluminium futures dipped 0.5%.
- The gold futures price fell by US$9.90 or 0.5% to US$2,057.20 an ounce.
- Spot gold was trading near US$2,036 an ounce at the US close.
- Iron ore futures rose by 8 US cents or 0.1% to US$130.46 a tonne after declining for five straight sessions, helped by market optimism that Beijing's stimulus efforts would revitalise the ailing property sector.
On the small-cap front
The S&P Small Ordinaries (XSO) had a good day yesterday, lifting 0.49% to 2,738.60. Over the last five days, the index has gained 2.03%.
It’s a slow news morning, but you can read about the following and more throughout the day.