The ASX is set to lift in early trading, trading up 24 points or 0.24% as of 8:20 am. The buoyancy is likely due to a strong showing by US markets overnight, which saw all three main US indices gain more than 1% on Friday night.
Big Tech was one of the core reasons for the bounce, alongside stabilising Treasury bond yields, which were weighing on the market.
Leading the charge, chipmaker Nvidia witnessed a 3% uptick, closely followed by Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), which rose by 2.8% and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) with a 2.5% increase – sending the Tech Giant to new heights with an all-time high.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Meta, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) all recorded jumps exceeding 2%, while Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), the parent company of Google, saw its shares advance by 1.8%.
In the medical products sector, Hologic's shares surged by an impressive 7.3% after the company's earnings surpassed analyst consensus forecasts.
The Dow Jones index climbed by 391 points or 1.2%, the S&P 500 index gained by 1.6%, marking its highest close since September 19, and the Nasdaq index leaped by 277 points or 2.1%, registering its most significant one-day percentage increase since May 26.
Over the week, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq rose by 0.7%, 1.3%, and 2.4%, respectively.
European markets
European share market suffered on Friday, largely impacted by warnings from consumer-facing firms.
Diageo (LON:DGE), the renowned maker of Johnnie Walker whisky, plummeted by 12.2% following its forecast of a decline in organic operating profit growth in the first half of its current financial year. Consequently, the food and beverage sector index dropped 3%.
Luxury sector shares were also struggling, with Richemont dropping 5.2% after reporting weaker-than-expected earnings, leading to a decline in shares of luxury industry peers LVMH, Kering (EPA:PRTP), and Hermes by 1.6% to 3.8%. The luxury sector overall shed 2.6%.
The continent-wide FTSEurofirst 300 index shed 1% and dipped 0.2% for the week. In London, the UK FTSE 100 index lost 1.3% and dropped 0.8% over the week.
Currency and commodities
It was a mixed trading session for the US dollar.
The Euro climbed from US$1.0656 to a peak of US$1.0690, eventually stabilising near US$1.0680 at the US market close.
The Australian dollar, however, experienced a slight decline, moving from US63.66 cents to US63.39 cents, before partially recovering to around US63.65 cents at the close of the US market.
The Japanese yen displayed a weakening trend, depreciating from 151.32 yen per US dollar to 151.59 yen, and settling near 151.50 yen by the US market closure.
In the energy sector, global oil prices saw a significant increase of almost 2% on Friday.
This surge was primarily influenced by Iraq's endorsement of OPEC+'s proposed oil production cuts ahead of a key meeting scheduled in two weeks.
Brent crude lifted US$1.42 or 1.8%, reaching US$81.43 a barrel. Similarly, the US Nymex crude price lifted by US$1.43 or 1.9%, closing at US$77.17 a barrel.
Despite these gains, oil prices ended the week with a 4.1% loss, marking their third consecutive weekly decline.
Base metal prices experienced a downturn on Friday. Copper futures dropped by 1.4%, and aluminium futures decreased by 1.2%. Over the week, copper suffered a 2.5% loss, while aluminium declined by 1.8%.
The gold market also faced a setback. The gold futures price fell by US$32.10 or 1.6%, settling at US$1,937.70 an ounce.
Spot gold was trading near US$1,936 an ounce at the US market close. Over the week, gold prices plummeted by 3.1%, marking their most significant weekly decline in six weeks.
On a brighter note, iron ore futures displayed strength, gaining US69 cents or 0.5%, to reach US$128.07 a tonne.
This price level represents the highest since March and reflects a 1.5% increase over the week, driven by prevailing supply concerns.
On the small cap front
The ASX Small Ordinaries index shed 0.6% or 16.1 points on Friday, mirroring the ASX200’s 0.55% or 38.4-point loss.
You can read more about the following throughout the day.
Tempest Minerals Ltd (ASX:TEM) has kicked off an exploration program immediately south of Mt Magnet, where rock chip samples up to 1 g/t were discovered in the area.
Sarytogan Graphite Ltd (ASX:SGA) achieved a concentrate grade of 81.4% Total Graphitic Carbon (TGC) at 84.4% metal recovery with bulk flotation testing of its graphite last quarter, and will now move to spheroidization, purification and battery testing stages.
Emyria Ltd (ASX:EMD) is reshuffling its board as Dr Alistair Vickery refocuses on clinical service expansion for the company, with Dr Stewart Washer moving from non-executive chair to executive chair and DR Karen Smith becoming a non-executive director.
QMines Ltd (ASX:QML) is set to follow up some strong copper and zinc results at the Artillery Road prospect of the Mt Chalmers Copper and Gold Project after hitting broad copper and zinc skarn mineralisation up to 1.0% copper and 5.1% zinc.
Dynamic Metals Ltd (ASX:DYM) is soil sampling for lithium at the Spargos East and Franks Far Southeast prospects at Widgiemooltha Project, with more exploration programs to come.