Source : THE AGE NEWS
The Australian sharemarket has pared some of its early gains while oil prices have risen amid uncertainty ahead of President Donald Trump’s latest Iran deadline, with tentative ceasefire signals tempered by the risk of further escalation.
The S&P/ASX 200 was more than 2 per cent higher in early trade but retreated to be up 126.7 points, or 1.5 per cent, to 8706.2 just after midday with nine of 11 industry sectors in the green. It is the first session for the ASX since Thursday due to the Easter break.
Trump said talks with Iran are “going well” ahead of the deadline to agree to a deal, even as he insisted that freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz must be part of any accord. If Iran doesn’t agree to the US’s terms, the military may destroy “every bridge in Iran by 12 o’clock tomorrow night” and put every power plant “out of business,” Trump warned.
Mining stocks are sharply higher with BHP rising 2.2 per cent, Rio Tinto gaining 2.2 per cent and Fortescue up 1.2 per cent. Gold players are mixed with Northern Star up 2.1 per cent and Evolution Mining down 1.5 per cent.
Financial stocks jumped, with National Australia Bank up 1.7 per cent, ANZ Bank 1.4 per cent, Westpac 0.9 per cent and Commonwealth Bank 0.7 per cent.
Energy stocks started the session in negative territory but have been boosted by a rise in oil prices this morning. Woodside Energy was up 1.4 per cent, Santos rose 0.4 per cent and Ampol edged up 0.1 per cent in early afternoon trade. Oil prices advanced. Brent, the international standard, rose 1.3 per cent to $US111.17 ($161) per barrel at 12.25pm AEST while West Texas Intermediate added 2.1 per cent to $US114.77.
Tech stocks bounced higher, with WiseTech up 1.7 per cent and Xero 1.6 per cent. NextDC surged 12.7 per cent after the ASX-listed data centre player launched a $1 billion wholesale hybrid securities offer, backed by a binding commitment from Canadian pension giant La Caisse. These 100-year subordinated notes are designed to bolster NextDC’s liquidity to $5.2 billion, providing the “dry powder” needed to meet a contracted forward order book that stretches into FY29.
Meanwhile, ASX-hopeful Firmus announced a $US505 million strategic equity investment round led by Coatue, with participation from AI giant Nvidia. The funding, which values Firmus at $7 billion, will fast-track “Project Southgate” – a national network of energy-efficient AI factories across Australia built on NVIDIA’s latest Vera Rubin reference design. Firmus is already backed by billionaire James Packer, Maas Group founder Wes Maas and UniSuper, among others. The company, led by co-founders Oliver Curtis and Tim Rosenfield, is plotting an IPO in June or July this year.
Guzman y Gomez is topping the bourse with the biggest gains so far this morning, soaring more than 18 per cent to $17.99 after unveiling third-quarter sales results that surpassed analyst expectations.
Australian like-for-like sales grew 6.6 per cent in the quarter, which RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Toner said was “stronger than anticipated” and a step up from the 4.8 per cent recorded in the second quarter. GYG’s Australian business brought in $320.4 million for the period. Food deliveries also drove the strong sales figure thanks to its new deal with Uber. Despite the gain, the Mexican fast food company’s share price is down nearly 40 per cent since it floated on the ASX in June 2024.
The Australian dollar was trading at US69.09¢ at 10.29am AEST.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent, coming off its first winning week in the last six. The Dow Jones added 165 points, or 0.4 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5 per cent.
Fighting continued in the war, meanwhile, including an Israeli attack on an Iranian petrochemical plant. And in the background was the clock ticking toward a deadline, one that Trump has moved multiple times, where he has threatened to attack Iranian power plants if it does not open the Strait of Hormuz. A fifth of the world’s oil typically sails through the strait during peacetime.
Trump suggested that his latest deadline of Tuesday (US time) will be the final one, saying he’d already given enough extensions. “The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” Trump said.
Monday also offered the first chance for US stock prices to react to a report from Friday that said US employers hired more workers last month than economists expected. The unemployment rate unexpectedly improved.
They’re encouraging signals for an economy that’s had to absorb painful leaps in costs for petrol since the war’s beginning. The average price for a gallon of regular petrol is nearly $US4.12 across the country, according to AAA. It was below $US3 a couple of days before the United States and Israel launched attacks to begin the war in late February.
On Wall Street, a split performance for the Big Tech stocks that dominate the US market kept things in check. Apple rose 1.1 per cent, and Amazon added 1.4 per cent. Tesla slid 2.2 per cent, and Microsoft fell 0.2 per cent.
Bank stocks were strong, including a 1.3 per cent rise for JPMorgan Chase.
CEO Jamie Dimon said in his annual letter to shareholders released on Monday that the US economy continues to be resilient, and businesses still look healthy. He, though, also acknowledged that prices for stocks and other assets are high, which could imply “anything less than positive outcomes could have a dramatic impact on global markets.”
With AP, Bloomberg
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