ASX to open higher, tracking Wall Street
Focus is on crypto market after SEC approves 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs
Experts say BTC could go to US$100k by end of year
Aussie shares are poised to open higher on Thursday, tracking gains in New York. At 8am AEDT, the ASX 200 index futures contract was pointing up by +0.2%.
Overnight, the S&P 500 rose by +0.57%. The blue chips Dow Jones index was up by +0.45%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed by +75%.
Earnings reports are starting to come through, with TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing) reporting a largely flat Q4 revenue. The TSMC stock price fell -1%.
Amazon gained +1.56% after announcing layoffs within its Prime Video and Studios units, as well at its video game streaming service, Twitch.
Microsoft, Nvidia and Meta were also all up between 2-4%, with Meta touching a 52-week high.
The biggest gainer overnight was WD-40, which popped more than 15% after Q1 profit and sales exceeded forecasts.
Elsewhere, the market’s focus was on cryptos after the US SEC approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs: Bitwise, Grayscale, Hashdex, BlackRock, Valkyrie, BZX, Invesco, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity and Franklin.
BTC rose +0.5% to US$45,820 on the announcement, and other coins also gained including Ethereum (+10%), Cardano (+6%) and Dogecoin (+1%).
Now read: $2 billion is predicted to flow into BlackRock Bitcoin ETF in WEEK ONE
According to the CBOE’s (Chicago Board Options Exchange) website, multiple Bitcoin ETFs will be available for trading as soon as today (US time).
Bitcoin could hit US$100k by year end – experts
Magnet Capital’s co-founders Egor Sidelska and Benjamin Celermajer said the SEC’s approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs means the biggest sheriff in town has given Bitcoin the nod of approval.
“It is the most significant event in Bitcoin history so far, regulatory approval of our asset class that enables Wall St to play,” they wrote.
“For retail investors, this means that we can get access to a low friction, high quality product that we have waited 10 years for.
“This is a huge step towards asset class credibility and a huge opportunity for investors who want to passively hold without the hassle.”
The expectation is that billions of dollars of inflows will be enabled by some of the largest traditional financial institutions (Blackrock and Fidelity).
“BTC will have to be bought on market to fill the ETFs. As a long term investor if you know there are buyers coming, why sell before they have to buy?,” said Sidelska and Celermajer.
They warned however that Aussie investors should remain cautious, while remaining open to the opportunities.
“…Bitcoin is likely to hit and surpass its previous all-time high (US$69K) before the end of the year, we could see a Bitcoin price north of US$100K.”
In other markets …
Gold price slumped by -0.3% to US$2,024.02 an ounce.
Oil prices fell by -1.2%, with Brent now trading at US$76.67 a barrel.
This came after data released overnight showed that US crude oil inventories rose unexpectedly last week, and gasoline stockpiles surged.
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield climbed by 1.5 basis points (bond prices lower) to 4.03%.
Iron ore futures crumbled by another -4% to US$132.30 a tonne.
The Aussie dollar lifted by +0.2% to US67c.
5 ASX small caps to watch today
Metals Australia (ASX:MLS)
MLS says it has received additional sample analyses which include its highest-grade lithium results to date, with the discovery of a new LCT pegmatite zone on the Corvette South Trend at the company’s Corvette River lithium project in Canada. The new LCT pegmatite discovery has produced high lithium results of 370ppm Li and 290ppm Li from the only two first-pass samples collected from the outcropping coarse-grained LCT pegmatite.
AVITA Medical (ASX:AVH)
Preliminary Q4 and and Full-Year 2023 financial highlights include: Commercial revenue for Q4 is expected to be approximately $14.1 million, an increase of 50% on pcp. Gross margin for the full-year is expected to be approximately 84.5%. As of December 31, 2023, AVITA holds $89.1 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities.
Compumedics (ASX:CMP)
Unaudited revenues for H1 FY24 are expected to be a record H1 result of approximately $26m, 35% higher than pcp. Sales orders taken for H1 FY24 were also a record H1 result of $30.3m, which is 74% higher than pcp. Compumedics expects to return to profitability in H1 FY24.
Adrad Holdings (ASX:AHL)
The heat transfer tech company announced the appointment of Kevin Boyle as its new CEO effective 8 April. Boyle has over 20 years of in-depth executive leadership expertise across manufacturing and automotive industries, and is currently CEO at Blue Lake Milling, one of Australia’s largest producers of oat based cereal products.
Buxton Resources (ASX:BUX)
Buxton reported that geological mapping at the newly-defined Wolverine Prospect at the Copper Wolf Project has identified an extension of the deeper porphyry Cu-Mo system at surface on the 100% BUX tenure. Mapped features include: Elevated Cu & Mo confirmed in surface rock chips, with laboratory assays up to 14.1% Cu & 1,160 ppm Mo.
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