The ASX looks set to open higher this morning following the lead of Wall Street overnight.
ASX futures are up 35 points or 0.51% at 9am AEDT.
Overseas markets
US share markets rose as investors digested the latest batch of earnings reports and looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy update. The Fed is meeting this week, with the policymakers widely expected to keep interest rates steady.
“The Fed will likely hold rates steady despite accelerating GDP and employment,” said Bank of America (NYSE:BAC).
“The Fed has adopted a more cautious tone due to the US Treasury long-end rate rise, arguing rates markets have done some of its tightening. Given ongoing economic resilience, we expect one more hike from the Fed, though it remains a close call.”
The Dow Jones index rose by 124 points or 0.4%, the S&P 500 index gained 0.7% and the Nasdaq index added 62 points or 0.5%.
For the month, the Dow fell 1.4%, the S&P 500 shed 2.2% and the Nasdaq slid 2.8% with October marking the indices' third straight month of losses.
European share markets were mixed. The continent-wide FTSEurofirst 300 index rose by 0.5% but was down 3.6% in October — its worst month since September 2022. In London, the UK FTSE 100 index fell by 0.1% and slid 3.8% in October.
Energy stocks fell 0.8% as BP (LON:BP)'s shares closed 4.6% lower after it missed third quarter estimates. Rate-sensitive real estate shares gained 2.7% after annual euro zone inflation fell to a two-year low of 2.9% in October, down from 4.3% in September and below the expected 3.1%. Euro zone GDP contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter.
Commodities
Global oil prices eased on Tuesday as markets worried less about potential supply disruptions from the Middle East conflict and on data showing rising output from OPEC and the US.
The Brent crude price fell by US4 cents or less than 0.1% to US$87.41 a barrel. The US Nymex crude price shed US$1.29 or 1.6% to $81.02 a barrel.
Base metal prices dipped as disappointing Chinese factory data weighed on sentiment. The copper futures price shed 0.2% and the aluminium futures price slid 0.5%.
Gold futures fell by US$11.30 or 0.6% to US$1,994.30 an ounce. Spot gold was trading near US$1,984 an ounce at the US close.
Iron ore futures gained US21 cents or 0.2% to US$118.91 a tonne.
Looking ahead
In Australia, home prices, building approvals and manufacturing data are issued with living cost indexes.
Amcor and Janus Henderson release earnings results. AGMs are hosted by BHP (ASX:BHP), Charter Hall Retail REIT, Cromwell Property Group, Domino's Pizza, Megaport, Sims and Vicinity.
On the small cap front
The S&P ASX Small Ordinaries closed up 0.18% yesterday, while the ASX 200 gained 0.12%.
You can read more about the following throughout the day:
- Auric Mining Ltd (ASX:AWJ) reports that 8,293 ounces of gold from stage one mining at the Jeffreys Find Gold Mine has generated gross revenue of $24,833,081 as of last Friday.
- Maximus Resources Ltd (ASX:MXR, OTC:MXRRF) has intersected lithium and nickel mineralisation during a recently completed multi-target drill program at the Kandui Nickel Prospect and Hilditch Gold Project.
- Brookside Energy Ltd (ASX:BRK, OTC:RDFEF) has appointed Shane Gray as the chief financial officer (CFO) for both Brookside and its subsidiary, Black Mesa Energy, LLC.
- Ioneer Ltd (ASX:INR, OTC:GSCCF, NASDAQ:IONR) has signed a binding lithium clay research and development memorandum of understanding with Korea’s EcoPro Innovation Co. Ltd to research, test, and develop lithium clay (M5) at Ioneer’s Rhyolite Ridge site in rural Nevada.