Australia

Australian shares are poised to edge higher at the open, helped by overnight gains for the big miners as copper prices hit a decade high in London.

The Australian SPI 200 futures contract was up 5 points or 0.1 per cent to 7072 near 7.00 am Sydney time on Thursday, suggesting a positive start to trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at a record high on Wednesday, driven higher by energy and other economically sensitive sectors, while the Nasdaq closed in red as megacap growth stocks slipped.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 97.31 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 34,230.34, the S&P 500 gained 2.93 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 4,167.59 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 51.08 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 13,582.42.

Locally, thriving market giants have helped Australian shares to their highest level since the coronavirus crash, within 100 points of records.

CSL and the Commonwealth Bank each gained more than two per cent and drove the indices higher early.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed higher by 27.9 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 7095.8.

The All Ordinaries on Wednesday was up by 20.7 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 7344.2 points.

Materials shares performed well and rose by 0.78 per cent.

BHP and Rio Tinto had gains of more than one per cent after enjoying a rise of more than two per cent on Tuesday. BHP gained 1.1 per cent to $48.76. Rio Tinto rose 1.15 per cent to $124.54.

Shares in information technology fared worst and lost 1.11 per cent.

Afterpay shed 3.46 per cent to $106.96.

Elsewhere, CSL rose 2.38 per cent to $277.66 after Spanish rival Grifols reported a drop in first-quarter revenue.

Insurer QBE rose 4.08 per cent to $10.45 after it said dividend payments would resume this year.

The Commonwealth Bank gained 2.51 per cent to $92.72. The bank is due to give a third-quarter update next week.

ANZ reported cash profit for the six months to March 31 more than doubled from a year ago to $2.99 billion. Shares fell 3.23 per cent to $27.90.

NAB gives its first-half earnings on Thursday and rose 0.44 per cent to $37.37.

Westpac was in the news, sued for alleged insider trading. ASIC claimed the bank unfairly profited from a $12 billion interest rate swap deal with an AustralianSuper consortium.

Gold was up 0.3 per cent at $US1785.06 an ounce; Brent crude was down 0.2 per cent to $US68.72 a barrel; Iron ore was up 2 per cent at $US192.54 a tonne.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was buying 77.46 US cents around 7:00am, up from 77.11 this time Wednesday.

Asia

Hong Kong shares closed lower on Wednesday, as consumer discretionary and technology stocks retreated ahead of the reopening of China markets, outweighing gains from banks and energy sectors.

Chinese financial and futures markets are closed from May 1 to 5 for the Labour Day holidays.

The Hang Seng index ended down 139.16 points or 0.49 per cent at 28,417.98. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.41 per cent to 10,721.87.

Hong Kong tech index fell 2.13 per cent to its lowest close in three weeks, tracking a 1.9 per cent drop in the Nasdaq on Tuesday.

Tencent, the most actively traded by turnover, fell 1.9 per cent. Meituan slid 1.6 per cent and Alibaba Group dropped 2.3 per cent.

Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.34 per cent.

Europe

European stocks marked their best day in nearly two months on Wednesday, recovering from a sharp sell-off in the previous session as resource stocks hit a 10-year high, while data showed euro zone business activity picked up in April.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended 1.8 per cent higher, wiping out almost all of its 1.4 per cent loss on Tuesday, when concerns over policy tightening in the United States had rattled high-value technology stocks.

European tech stocks rose 2.7 per cent after a 3.7 per cent plunge in the previous session.

Europe’s basic resources index jumped 4.7 per cent to a 10-year peak, with big London-listed miners leading gains as copper prices hit decade highs on optimism about a speedy recovery in the global economy. The index also marked its best day in nearly a year.

Oil and gas stocks surged 3.2 per cent in their best day since mid-February, as expectations of recovering demand benefited oil prices, while the construction and materials index jumped 2.9 per cent to a record high.

Euro zone business activity accelerated in April as the bloc’s dominant services industry shrugged off renewed lockdowns and returned to growth, a survey showed.

German cooking appliances maker Rational jumped 12.7 per cent to the top of the STOXX 600, after it posted better-than-expected first-quarter results.

Danish shipping company Maersk was up 6.9 per cent after it said it was expecting an “exceptionally strong” performance in the first quarter to continue for the rest of the year.

German fashion house Hugo Boss rose 5.2 per cent as it saw first-quarter sales almost double in mainland China, and its casual business returned to growth.

Delivery Hero fell 4.2 per cent as former owners of Woowa Brothers sold shares worth about 1.25 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in the online takeaway food company.

North America

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at a record high on Wednesday, driven higher by energy and other economically sensitive sectors, while the Nasdaq closed in red as megacap growth stocks slipped.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 97.31 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 34,230.34, the S&P 500 gained 2.93 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 4,167.59 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 51.08 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 13,582.42.

Strong gains by Goldman Sachs, Caterpillar and Chevron sent Dow to the record. Energy and materials continued this week’s momentum, leading gains among S&P 500 sectors. Defensive utilities and real estate led sectoral declines.

Strong economic data and earnings pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes to record high last week, but markets have wobbled amid concerns about rising inflation and potentially higher US interest rates.

Megacap technology companies including Amazon.com Inc and Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc were down over 1 per cent. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index recovered from a sell-off on Tuesday by rising 0.61 per cent.

The tech sell-off accelerated on Tuesday after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen suggested that interest rates might need to rise in an overheating economy.

The ADP National Employment Report showed US private payrolls increased in April as companies rushed to boost production amid a surge in demand, powered by massive government aid and rising vaccinations against COVID-19.

A more comprehensive reading in the form of the Labor Department’s non-farm payrolls data is due on Friday.

The largest percentage gainer on the S&P 500 was Caesars Entertainment Inc , which rose 7.8 per cent after the casino operator said it expected to benefit from the economy reopening.

Peloton Interactive Inc plunged by 14.6 per cent, hitting an eight-month low on its announcement to recall its treadmills amid reports of multiple injuries and the death of a child in an accident.

Uber Technologies Inc’s shares fell over 4 per cent during afterhours trading after reporting a narrower first quarter loss amid strong growth in its food-delivery business, while ride-hailing bookings were flat.

With Reuters