Brent crude hit US$93 as US pressure on Iran tightened supply. Wall Street fell to two-week lows. ASX set for soft open with unemployment rising to 4.5%.
Alpha Score of 49 reflects weak overall profile with strong momentum, poor value, moderate quality. Based on 3 of 4 signals – score is capped at 90 until remaining data ingests.
The Australian sharemarket is set for a subdued start after Wall Street fell to two-week lows, dragged by surging oil prices and rising Treasury yields.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.31% to close at 52,759. The S&P 500 dropped 66.82 points to 7,642, and the Nasdaq slid 1% to settle at 26,067.
Brent crude climbed to its highest in nearly a month, trading at US$93.034 a barrel on Friday. The move came as the US increased economic pressure on Iran, adding to supply concerns in an already tight market. Oil has been climbing through August, with Brent now within striking distance of US$100 for the first time since 2022.
Locally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 4.5% in July, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. The increase was driven by a drop in male employment, which fell by 11,000 people. Female employment recorded a smaller fall of 5,000.
In corporate news, Regis Resources reported a record net profit after tax of $715 million, with EBITDA of $1.345 billion and record statutory operating cash flows of $1.247 billion. MGX Resources said it maintained a strong balance sheet to underpin its pivot to the Central Tanami gold project. James Hardie announced the divestiture of its European operations. Terrain Minerals unveiled seven new priority gold targets at Smokebush. Perenti agreed to divest BTP Group for $100 million.
The Australian dollar bought US$0.710.
Iron ore slipped 0.01% to $95.16 a tonne in Singapore. US natural gas futures fell 1.92% to $2.7591 per gigajoule.
Drafted by a large language model from the source reporting linked above, then screened by automated publishing checks. It is not read by a journalist before publication. Some articles cite our Alpha Score. Verify prices and figures against the original source. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.