The Australian sharemarket is set to open lower this morning after a similarly tentative day on the US markets. Early this morning ASX futures were down -0.3% to 7,190 points.
Things were slow on Wall Street as tech stocks slumped on the back of price-pressure nerves – the August CPI data is due to drop in the US later tonight. High oil prices fuelled (pun intended) those fears.
The Dow Jones Index ended the day down 18 points or -0.1%, while the S&P and the Nasdaq dropped -0.6% and -1% respectively.
Tech down, oil up
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was in the news following the release of its much-anticipated iPhone 15 but its shares were down 1.7%.
The tech giant has been compelled to retire its lightning charger – which has had an 11-year run – and conform to European standards requiring all phones to use a USB-C charging cable.
The company was also wounded by news that China's Huawei Technologies had raised the second-half shipment target for its Mate 60 series smartphone by 20%.
Shares of Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) rose by up to 2.9% as fossil fuels traded briskly.
European shares fell yesterday with German software maker SAP slumping 1.8% after a weak forecast from US technology firm Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), which itself dropped 13.5% in US trade.
Annual Spanish consumer prices rose 2.6% in August, up from 2.3% in July.
The continent-wide FTSEurofirst 300 Index fell by 0.2% while in London things were brighter for the FTSE 100 index, which rose by 0.4% on a softer British pound after data showed the labour market had weakened against strong wage growth in July.
Currencies, commodities and crude
Currencies were mixed against the greenback overnight in Europe and the US. The Euro rose from US$1.0704 to hover near US$1.0750 at the US close, but the Aussie dollar fell from 64.38 US cents to 64.08 US cents and was near 64.25 US cents at the US close. The Yen eased, closing the day at JPY147.05.
As flagged earlier, global oil prices were riding up 2% to a near 10-month high on Tuesday on a tighter supply outlook and OPEC optimism over the resilience of energy demand in major economies. The organisation’s monthly report predicts world oil demand will climb by 2.25 million barrels per day next year.
Brent crude rose by US$1.42 or 1.6% to US$92.06 a barrel, while US Nymex crude gained US$1.55 or 1.8% to US$88.84 a barrel.
Base metal prices were mixed. Copper futures fell by 0.5% as inventories rose – 135,650 tonnes of copper stocks are sitting in London Metal Exchange (LME) registered warehouses – the highest since last October.
Aluminium futures were up 0.6%, while gold futures fell by US$12.10 or 0.6% to US$1,935.10 an ounce. Spot gold was trading near US$1,913 an ounce at the US close.
Iron ore futures rose by US$2.10 or 1.8% to US$120.33 a tonne on the back of stronger prospects from the world’s hungriest iron ore consumer, China.
What’s happening on the small caps front?
The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO) finished even, at 2,775.0, yesterday.
Cooper Metals Ltd (ASX:CPM) has wrapped up a diamond drilling campaign at the King Solomon 1 copper-gold prospect, with some promising visual results.
Elixir Energy Ltd (ASX:EXR) is going to collaborate on data sharing with a Santos group company on its 100%-owned Grandis Gas Project in the Bowen Basin, Queensland.
Novo Resources Corp (TSX:NVO, OTCQX:NSRPF, ASX:NVO) has kicked off a maiden drill campaign at Nunyerry North, pursuing gold at the exploration target in the southern Egina Gold Camp in WA’s Pilbara.
Anson Resources Ltd (ASX:ASN) has completed the acquisition of a strategic land package of privately owned, industrial-use land at the Green River Lithium Project in Utah, USA.
Helix Resources Ltd (ASX:HLX) has decided to implement a transition plan to bolster the company’s ability to target new copper discoveries in the Cobar-Nyngan area of central NSW.