The ASX is likely to have a slow start to trading this morning – ASX Futures point to a flat opening and the market could go either way during the day.
The ASX200 finished on a strong note last week, gaining 0.99% and touching a new record high to settle at 7,896.9 points.
Gold also reached new heights in trading over the weekend, adding 1.43% to hit US$2,270.39.
“I think it’s a really exciting moment in gold,” Joseph Cavatoni, market strategist at the World Gold Council, told CNBC on Monday. “What’s really driving it is, I think, many market speculators really getting that confidence and comfort [in] the Fed cuts,” he said.
What happened overnight?
US and European markets (source: Commsec)
US markets had a mixed start for the first day of the second quarter, with positive inflation data giving the bulls more confidence even as stronger-than-expected US manufacturing data gave the bears a reason for caution.
Some of the bigger stocks were vulnerable to the uncertainty – Tech had a mixed bag, with Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) up 3% to new highs while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 0.3% and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) 0.9%.
Pharmacy giant Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) shed 9.9% as the market continued to react to a downgraded earnings outlook for the 2024 financial year and Home Depot (NYSE:HD) fell 4.1% after it announced the acquisition of SRS Distribution for US$18.25 billion.
Chipmakers Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) and Marvell Technology drove the Philadelphia Semiconductor index up 1.2% after enjoying a 5.5% and 3.3% uptick to their respective share prices.
The Dow fell 240.5 points or 0.6% and the S&P500 0.2%, but the Nasdaq gained 0.1%.
In March, the Dow Jones index gained 2.1%, the S&P500 10.2% – the strongest first quarter performances the markets have had for years – and the Nasdaq rallied 9.1%.
In Europe, the markets were closed for Easter. As for their March performances; the FTSE300 gained 3.6%, up 7.5% for the quarter, while the FTSE100 gained 4.2% and 2.8% in the March quarter.
Currencies and commodities
The US dollar gained against the Euro, Aussie and Japanese Yen overnight.
The Euro fell from US$1.0791 to near US$1.0740, the Aussie dollar slid from US65.27 cents to near US64.85 cents at the US close, and the Japanese Yen fell to near JPY151.65 per US dollar.
Oil prices touched a five-month high on Monday, as both the US and China’s economic data signalled strong incoming demand for oil.
OPEC+ cuts to production and attacks on Russian oil refineries also had an impact, driving Brent up y US42 cents or 0.5% to US$87.42 a barrel and US Nymex US54 cents or 0.6% to US$83.71 a barrel, the highest since October 2023.
Base metals rose yesterday – copper futures gained 1.1% on China’s strong industrial data, and aluminium futures followed copper up, gaining 0.2%.
Iron ore futures gained US27 cents or 0.3% to US$102.33 a tonne on Monday.
On the small cap front
The ASX Small Ordinaries outperformed the ASX200 in the last day of trading last week, gaining 1.45% or 44.7 points to 3,123.60, compared to the ASX’s 0.99% gain.
You can read about the following and more throughout the day on our website.