ASX to open lower after a mixed session on Wall Street
Anglo rejected BHP’s second bid, while Gamestop soared by 74pc
A quick preview on tonight’s Budget
Aussie shares are poised to open lower on Tuesday as Wall Street drifted sideways. At 8am AEST, the ASX200 futures contract was pointing down by -0.1%.
Overnight, the S&P 500 fell by -0.02%, the blue chips Dow Jones index was down by -0.21%, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq lifted by +0.29%.
US traders began Wall Street’s week on a cautious note as they prepared for the key inflation report on Wednesday.
“The key risk is a hotter CPI print,” said Andrew Tyler at JPMorgan Chase.
To stocks, Anglo American has rejected a second takeover bid price from BHP, which valued the London-listed mining company at $64.4 billion.
BHP said Anglo’s board did not engage with the latest proposal, which followed an initial $60 billion offer that was also rejected last month.
Apple rose +1.76% as it neared an agreement with OpenAI to incorporate the startup’s technology into the iPhone.
Meme stock GameStop is back, soaring +74% after Keith Gill, known as “Roaring Kitty” and a former insurance firm marketer, posted on X for the first time since 2021. He shared a sketch of a gamer leaning forward intently, followed by a series of movie and TV show clips.
— Roaring Kitty (@TheRoaringKitty) May 13, 2024
What to expect from tonight’s Budget
Jim Chalmers will deliver the nation’s 2024-2025 Budget at approximately 7:30pm tonight.
He is set to announce a $9.3 billion surplus, marking the first consecutive surpluses since the 2007-08 global financial crisis following last year’s $22 billion surplus.
Tonight’s budget is expected to include “new investments in Medicare and the health system” as well as “future investments” in areas such as jobs, skills, infrastructure, housing, and social care.
“The budget will ease cost-of-living pressures, not add to them, and incentivise investment in a Future Made in Australia,” said Chalmers.
According to the ABC, the Future Made in Australia budget will include $1 billion for the Solar SunShot program and $2 billion for the Hydrogen Headstart scheme.
The government is also expected to announce a further $8.5 billion on health and Medicare.
An extra $50 billion is earmarked for defence over the next decade, while $1 billion will be spent to alleviate the housing crisis.
In other markets …
Gold price fell by -1% to US$2,337.97 an ounce.
Oil prices lifted by +1.15%, with Brent crude now trading at US$83.43 a barrel.
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield closed flat at 4.50%.
The Aussie dollar fell by -0.1% to US66.09 cents.
The iron ore price fell by -0.8% to US$116.90 a tonne.
Bitcoin meanwhile was up by +2.4% in the last 24 hours to US$62,813.
5 ASX small caps to watch today
Castillo Copper (ASX:CCZ)
Castillo announced that it will be undertaking a comprehensive soil sampling campaign at its Big One deposit – situated within the NWQ Project in Mt Isa – following reconciliation of highly prospective historical exploration findings, a recent revival of the copper market and bullish forecasts from leading investment banks. Located within CCZ’s prime NWQ Copper Project, the Big One Deposit has a JORC 2012 compliant Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 2.1Mt @ 1.1% Cu for 21,886t contained metal.
Kinetiko Energy (ASX:KKO)
In a first of its kind in South Africa, Kinetiko has successfully demonstrated power production from a gas well at Amersfoort, in cooperation with FFS Refiners. A fully compliant gas train was constructed on-site to feed a 1.2MW gas generator. Gas was produced from one existing gas well, which forms parts of a 5 well cluster near Amersfoort which is located in ER271.
Rincon Resources (ASX:RCR)
Heritage clearance survey over the high-priority ‘Avalon’ Nb-REE/IOCG target has now been completed. The survey encompassed the Avalon, Sheoak, K1 and K2 target areas, with 32 drilling traverses surveyed, allowing the cpmpany to fast-track additional drilling programs in the event of early success. The final survey report is expected in 4-5 weeks.
Pantera Minerals (ASX:PFE)
PFE will collaborate with NYSE-listed energy technology company, SLB, to leverage its advanced subsurface technology and expertise. The goal is to advance the already identified leads and multiple re-entry wells into drill-ready prospects. SLB will complete a subsurface 3D Static Geological Model to identify optimal well locations for PFE for future well planning and designs. The model will also be used by PFE for resource estimation ahead of the Pantara’s maiden lithium drilling program in the Arkansas Smackover.
Antipa Minerals (ASX:AZY)
Antipa’s assay results for the first six GEO-01 RC holes at its 100%-owned Minyari Dome Gold-Copper Project in WA have returned thick zones of near surface, potentially open pittable, high-grade gold mineralisation. Significant high-grade intersections include: 66m at 1.4g/tgold and 0.04% copper, and 26m at 1.3 g/t gold from 37m down hole.
At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Pantera Minerals is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.
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