The latest Market Talks covering Basic Materials. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

0758 GMT - The stock market selloff is mainly driven by uncertainty around valuations, rather than growth concerns, Danske Bank's Sofie Pedersen says in a note. The U.S.'s largest tech stocks of Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Nvidia, and Tesla--known as the magnificent 7--led declines on Thursday together with defensive real estate stocks, Pedersen says. In contrast, cyclical materials and financials were relative outperformers. "We interpret this as markets making it clear that it is not economic growth that is yet driving the selloff but uncertainty with valuation in focus rather than earnings," Danske says. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

0258 GMT - RBC Capital Markets analysts say they are sanguine on the Australian mining sector. While commodities have been buffeted by tariff threats and soft economic data, fears of a major global slowdown are overdone, the analysts reckon. They revise their commodity forecasts, boosting their price estimates for gold but paring for metallurgical coal and lithium. "We forecast most commodity prices to be flattish/small declines in 2025," with the exception of precious metals, they say. RBC's key stock picks are Fortescue, Sandfire, Pilbara Minerals and IGO as well as Bellevue Gold, Westgold Resources, Regis Resources, South32, Mineral Resources and BHP. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

0240 GMT - The planned acquisition of Radius Recycling by a U.S. unit of Toyota Tsusho at a roughly 115% premium looks positive for ASX-listed metals recycler Sims, says Citi analyst Paul McTaggart. The Radius deal represents an EV/Ebitda multiple of 7.4X on 2027 estimates and a trailing three-year multiple of 8.3X, based on Visible Alpha consensus, says McTaggart. "We see this as a positive read-across for SGM with SGM trading on FY27 EV/Ebitda of 3.4X," he says. Citi has a neutral rating and A$15.50 target on Sims. The stock is up 4.7% at A$14.45. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

0159 GMT - Chinese shares are higher in early trade, supported by consumer and insurance stocks. Investors await China's February economic data due Monday, including industrial output and retail sales. Gainers in the session include Yonghui Superstores, which is up 1.7%, Kweichow Moutai up 0.9%, China Life Insurance adding 0.6% and Ping An Insurance 1.1% higher. Steel stocks are broadly lower, with Baoshan Iron & Steel down 1.6%. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index is 0.3% higher at 3369.64, the Shenzhen Composite Index is up 0.1% and the ChiNext Price Index rises 0.7%. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)

0015 GMT - Australian lithium miner Liontown Resources delivered an in-line result, with revenue and cash flow largely pre-reported, say Barrenjoey analysts. First-half underlying Ebitda of A$66.0 million was well above of Barrenjoey and consensus estimates "given LTR took the approach of capitalizing all costs over and above revenue to effectively create a nil gross margin," the analysts say. Commercial production at the Kathleen Valley processing plant was declared effective Jan. 1, and capitalization of costs will stop from that date, they say. Depreciation was higher-than-anticipated, but net debt was as expected, say the analysts. They continue to expect Liontown will meet 2H FY25 guidance. Liontown is up 0.4% at A$0.6175. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

2357 GMT - Macquarie upgrades a string of Australian mining stocks, citing a more-positive view on gold, iron ore and lithium-rich spodumene prices. It also downgrades a few--all coal-mining stocks, with the thermal-coal outlook having especially soured, according to Macquarie analysts. In a note, the analysts say South32 and BHP are Macquarie's top picks among Australia's diversified miners, and are preferred over Fortescue and Rio Tinto. Newmont is its large-cap gold pick and IGO its top bet for lithium, while Mineral Resources "offers high reward for risk," they say. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

2334 GMT - While Boss Energy is raising its exposure to TSX-listed junior Laramide Resources at a relatively low cost, UBS analysts say they'd prefer the Australian uranium miner's focus remain on its flagship Honeymoon project. In a note, the analysts say they understand Boss's intentions in buying more of Laramide but remain cautious given a moratorium on uranium mining in Australia's Queensland state, where Laramide is developing the Westmoreland project. Boss Thursday said it agreed to buy 9% more of Laramide, to take its stake to more than 18%. Laramide "holds the view that uranium mining will again be allowed within the state in short order," say the analysts, while highlighting that uranium has not been produced in Queensland since 1982. UBS has a buy rating and A$3.20 target on Boss. The stock is down 0.5% at A$2.20. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

2209 GMT - AGL Energy loses a bear in Barrenjoey following its review of default retail electricity market offers for FY 2026 in several states. Barrenjoey raises AGL to neutral, from underweight, as the offers suggest a better-than-expected outcome. "Our AGL forecasts in FY 2026 are now 5% above consensus EPS, and we suspect the support for greater cost recovery in non-Victorian states (and improved margin outlook) should support sentiment through to FY26 profit guidance in August," analyst Dale Koenders says. Still, Barrenjoey remains concerned about the outlook for AGL's earnings in FY 2028 when gas and coal contracts reset. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2205 GMT - Jefferies approves of uranium miner Boss Energy's M&A ambitions. Boss Energy has bought another 9% of Laramide Resources, taking its stake in the owner of the undeveloped Westmoreland uranium project in Australia to 18.4%. That gives Boss a blocking stake on Westmoreland, and another project in the U.S., plus potential upside if they are developed, analyst Daniel Roden says. Acquiring the stake in Laramide follows previous deals with Eclipse Metals and enCore Energy. "Current transactions appear to be rational, modest and value accretive, while Honeymoon appears to be ramping up well," says Jefferies, referring to Boss's flagship uranium mine in South Australia. It retains a buy call on Boss. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2135 GMT - Australia's S&P/ASX 200 is ready to start the day in the red after another rough session on Wall Street, where tariff threats continue to jolt markets. ASX futures are down by roughly 0.2% ahead of the open, suggesting the benchmark index will add to three consecutive days of losses. The ASX 200 ended Thursday 0.5% lower, at its lowest level since August. Gold futures notched a record high overnight, a tailwind for Australia's gold-mining stocks. Iron ore also rose, while oil futures fell. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

2028 GMT - Trade wars weigh down on U.S. stocks, pushing the S&P 500 into correction territory, off 10% from its February 19 closing high of 6,144.15, following the latest Trump threat: a 200% tariff on E.U. alcoholic beverages. Treasury yields fall amid the risk-off mode, despite mild producer inflation. Consumer discretionary and communication services drive losses among S&P sectors. American Eagle Outfitters declines 4.1% as investors worry about the company's ability to navigate slowing demand. Gold prices rise and miner Newmont's shares gain 4.6%. Nasdaq falls 2% to 17303 points and the S&P 500 drops 1.4% to 5522. DJIA is the only of the three major indexes not in correction territory yet, after losing 537 points, or 1.3%, to 40814. DJIA is now off 9% from its December 4, 2024 closing high of 45,014.04. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)

1708 GMT - Base metal prices are mixed, with LME three-month copper down 0.2% at $9,770.50 a metric ton and LME three-month aluminum up 0.1% at $2,702 a ton. Copper prices remain up 0.8% on week on tariff concerns, a weaker U.S. dollar and smelter output cuts in China, SP Angel analysts say in a note. Bullish calls continue to escalate on copper, as the physical market is expected to tighten outside the U.S. through May and June as the U.S. imports metal ahead of potential tariffs, SP Angel says. Copper smelter Tongling Nonferrous Metals has also cut its processing of concentrate by around 10% on weak smelting fees, analysts write. Fees have been ticking lower since the large-scale rollout of smelter capacity from China, Indonesia and Congo, SP Angel adds. (joseph.hoppe@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 14, 2025 04:20 ET (08:20 GMT)

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