ASX 200 futures are pointing to a dive for Australian shares on Tuesday, with the local bourse expected to hand back as much as 1.2% this morning – a steep 99-point reversal that easily shaves off all of Monday’s gains.
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Tuesday’s plunge comes after President Donald Trump declared he’s pulling the trigger on tariffs even heavier than originally heralded way back when.
Mexico and Canada will see 25% tariffs; China was hit with a 10% increase.
The news – though not totally unsurprising – knocked the wind out of any hopes for a positive Week 10, for the time being: The Dow Jones and S&P 500 lost as much as 2% each while the Nasdaq composite dropped more than 3%.
Though the minutes aren’t expected to be bad, Aussie shares could be dented even harder by the RBA’s transcript from its February meeting (it arrives at 11.30am).
Also looming – the ABS is sharing January retail sales and fourth-quarter exports today.
Back home, Aussie energy companies may be watching ConocoPhillips’ moves closely; the New York-listed giant has been given the ‘OK’ to drill two exploration wells in the Bass Strait. The aim is to build Victoria’s gas supply.
Star Entertainment (ASX:SGR) has been warned in no uncertain terms the Queensland gov’t won’t help, with Premier David Crisafulli saying there’ll be no financial bailout.
Investors on the HotCopper forums are keeping a close eye on Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) and Karoon Energy (ASX:KAR) too after last night saw oil prices drop.
Conversely, there’s more interest in Bellevue (ASX:BGL) after the gold price jumped.
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There’s also another listing being added to the ASX today, with Dominion Income Trust to ring the bell in Sydney at 11am today. The investment trust is listing under the “DN1” ticker code at $100; it aims to raise $300 million.
Looking at forex, the Aussie dollar is buying 62.1 US cents.
To commodities, which are in the greenback,
Iron Ore has held just 15 cents above $100 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is trading at $71.33,
Gold is trading at $2,897 per ounce, and,
US natgas futures are at $4.13 per gigajoule.
That’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre, stick with us for HotCopper’s Market Update.
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