ASX set to rise following US stocks record highs
Staff writers
Updated ,first published
The Australian share market held on to gains at lunchtime after the latest inflation report showed price pressures eased slightly in November; This supported the idea that the Central Bank should keep interest rates unchanged for now while it evaluates the impact of last year’s interest rate cuts.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 20.9 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 8703.70 at 12:24 AEDT, with nine of 11 industrial sectors in the green. The gains follow two lackluster sessions so far this week, with the market holding steady on Monday and falling 0.5 percent on Tuesday despite a rally in BlueScope Steel, which received a $13 billion takeover offer. The Australian dollar traded at 67.33¢.
The market opened higher after US stocks rose for a third session overnight, pushing the S&P 500 and Dow Jones to all-time highs. It briefly rose as high as 0.6 per cent after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported annual inflation slowed to 3.4 per cent in November as Australians traveled less domestically and electricity bill price increases eased.
Economists had forecast headline inflation to come in at 3.6 percent for the 12 months to November, following last month’s higher-than-expected figure of 3.8 percent.
RSM Australia economist Devika Shivadekar said the figures presented a “mixed bag” for the Reserve Bank board, which meets in February to make its next interest rate decision.
“While overall inflation is trending downward, the pace of decline remains moderate, reflecting persistent cost pressures in key sectors,” he said. “Inflation is falling, supporting keeping rates steady, but housing and energy costs remain stubbornly high, signaling underlying price pressures.”
Technology stocks followed their U.S. peers, accelerating the market’s gains as the industry’s annual CES trade show in Las Vegas boosted growth expectations for the sector.
WiseTech Global, Australia’s largest technology share, rose 1.9 percent. Software maker Xero rose 2.5 percent. Artificial intelligence data center operator NextDC increased by 2.2 percent, and family tracking application Life360 increased by 3.3 percent. Data center owner Goodman Group sent real estate stocks up 1.2 percent.
Miners gave up some of their gains during the lunch break but were still higher as gold prices continued to rise as traders looked beyond tensions in Venezuela to economic data from the United States this week.
Bullion was up more than 4 percent in the previous three sessions to around $4490 per ounce. President Donald Trump will not rule out military force to seize Greenland, the White House said Tuesday, following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Meanwhile, China has imposed controls on exports to Japan, intensifying the dispute between Asia’s leading economies.
Gold miners Evolution Mining and Newmont gained 0.9 percent and 3.7 percent respectively, while Northern Star regained its morning gains and fell 0.9 percent. Silver producer South32 gained 1.2 percent after silver prices rose as much as 6.3 percent overnight.
Copper heavyweights BHP and Rio Tinto rose 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent after copper prices exceeded $13,350 per tonne for the first time earlier this week. As investments in renewable energy, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence data centers increase, the demand for the metal also increases.
Banks have largely stagnated as investors continue to withdraw from the industry due to concerns about profit growth prospects. All four major banks were in the red; Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s largest stock, lost 0.1 percent, while Westpac and ANZ Bank lost 0.9 percent and National Australia Bank lost 0.8 percent.
BlueScope Steel fell 0.6 percent after rising 20.6 percent on Tuesday as investors focused on subsequent developments in the joint takeover bid by billionaire Kerry Stokes’ industrial and media group SGH Ltd and U.S. steelmaker Steel Dynamics.
But the biggest losers in Wednesday’s session were the oil and gas giants. Woodside fell 2.6 percent, Santos fell 3 percent and Ampol, the country’s largest refinery, fell 1.6 percent. The declines came after oil prices extended losses overnight as traders weighed the outlook for an end to the war in Ukraine following progress on security guarantees. West Texas Intermediate traded around $57 a barrel after closing 2 percent lower on Tuesday. Brent settled below $61.
Overnight on Wall Street, U.S. stocks continued their gains for the first full trading week of the year, led by advances in the materials, industrials and financial sectors as the market’s return to laggards accelerated and catapulted the market toward all-time highs.
S&P 500 Index broke a new record with an increase of 0.6 percent. The Nasdaq 100 Index rose 0.7 percent, while the old-economy Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 percent to close above the 49,000 milestone for the first time.
“If there’s one theme, it’s rotation,” said Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at Jones Trading Institutional Services. “Overall, people are looking to invest in this market, but they are also looking for other industry groups that represent relative value compared to last year’s leaders and high flyers.”
But big tech companies were still making some of the most notable moves. The gains mirrored much of the action in 2025, when tech giants often drove the market to a series of records.
Amazon, which operates in both retail and technology, increased by 3.4 percent. It’s one of the world’s most valuable companies, and its outsized stock valuation helped offset losses elsewhere in the market, including Apple’s 1.8 percent loss.
Micron Technology also helped revive the market by increasing 10 percent.
Nvidia, often the biggest force behind the market’s direction, hesitated throughout the day and closed down 0.5 percent.
Digital storage device maker Sandisk achieved the biggest gain in the US market with a 27.6 percent increase. The stock’s value has risen more than 800 percent since it was spun off from Western Digital last February. The gains were driven by artificial intelligence and the resulting demand for data storage hardware.
Technology companies, especially those focusing on artificial intelligence, are being followed closely at the CES fair this week.
AI advances have helped the broader market reach a number of records in 2025. Investors will be watching companies for any updates that could shed more light on major corporate investments in AI technology.
Treasury yields rose in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.18 percent from 4.15 percent on Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury note, which moves closer to expectations of what the Fed will do, rose to 3.48 percent from 3.45 percent late Monday.
Apart from company announcements, Wall Street is also bracing for various updates on the US labor market this week, as well as reports on the services sector and consumer sentiment. They will help paint a clearer picture of how vital parts of the world’s largest economy fare in 2025 and the direction they might take in 2026. The reports will be monitored by the Federal Reserve when determining interest rate policy.
The central bank’s biggest focus will be reports on the U.S. labor market in the coming days, including updates on job openings and overall employment. The Fed weighs the slowing employment market against rising inflation risks when deciding whether to cut interest rates. It cut its benchmark interest rate three times in late 2025, but inflation remained above its 2 percent target, making the Fed more cautious.
Wall Street expects the Fed to keep interest rates steady at its January meeting.
With AP and Bloomberg
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