The Australian stock market extended early gains towards midday, after a strong rally in US technology stocks overnight.
s&The P/ASX 200 rose 0.7% to 7,989, led by the technology sector, which rose 1.9%. This came after the Nasdaq rebounded strongly in the first US trading session of the week ahead of quarterly results from Alphabet and Tesla.
The Nasdaq rose 1.6 percent.&The S&P 500 rose 1.1 percent to 5,564.41. The rise partly offset a slide in the U.S. mid-cap sector last week, when the prospect of a second Donald Trump presidency bolstered the case for domestic U.S. companies. Shifting investors away from large-cap tech stocks.
Nvidia shares rose 4.8% and Tesla shares rose 5.2%, helping the New York Stock Exchange index rise 2.1%. CrowdStrike Inc. extended its losses, falling another 13.5%.
The prospect of a Trump victory also added strength to the US dollar, sending the Australian dollar lower for a seventh straight session. Meanwhile, commodities continued to decline, with copper hitting a three-month low as concerns over China persisted.
Stocks in focus
Woodside U.S. crude fell 2.8% to $27.79 a barrel, extending Monday’s 2% decline. That’s despite the company reporting a 2% increase in revenue in the June second quarter to $3.03 billion and saying it was on track to meet its expectations. Citi Broker said the company’s quarterly production of 44 million barrels was 6% below its forecast.
“Most assets are underperforming our expectations. The biggest underperformers were Wheatstone and Perennis, both due to unplanned outages,” the Citi analyst said in a note this morning.
Highway Operator Across the city The company has partnered with the Queensland government to expand the western section of the state’s Logan Highway. Shares in the company rose 1.3% to $12.94.
ASX’s Preferred Technology brain slice Trading in the shares was halted prior to the capital increase.
And rare metal mines Axel Rey Oxfam Mining shares surged on the Australian Stock Exchange this morning after raising $13.3 million from investors to fund exploration of up to four rare earth mines in Brazil. The shares were trading at 12 cents a share, about 8 cents below their initial public offering price.
