The ASX 200 managed to eke out a small gain on Monday after starting the session on the back foot. Buying crept in throughout the day, reversing an initial 0.5% drop to close marginally higher, helped by firm US futures. Tech and energy stocks led the gains through a relatively quiet session, which only saw 3% of the main board move by over 5%.
Wall Street may have notched its worst day in over a month on Thursday, but one category of assets has fared far worse this week — meme stocks. One painful example is NuScale Power (SMR US), a popular stock in the US used to play the power generation buildout theme for AI data centres, which plummeted ~50% last week, extending its losses from mid-October.
Volatility is on the increase in equities, but it's already been high in recent months across the commodity markets, from precious metals to lithium and copper. The moves have been significant as investors and traders have battled with the usual supply and demand fundamentals, combined with the almost random-like comments coming out of the Whitehouse. However, while the resources sector hasn’t been for the fainthearted, it has outperformed in 2025, with the Materials Index up 24% year-to-date, while the previously much-loved tech space is down 11%.
This morning, we updated our views across 6 commodities using related ETFs as the need to keep our finger on the pulse increases.
The ASX200 closed down 0.2% on Wednesday, reversing early gains and closing below the psychological 8800 level. Over 50% of the main board closed higher, but another 3% drop by CBA was enough to drag the index lower, with Australia's largest bank now over 17% below its June high.
The ASX200 started Tuesday in an encouraging fashion, up ~0.5%, as the US government neared a reopening deal, before the index reversed to close down 17 points, or 0.2%. The weakness was almost entirely down to CBA, even though winners outstripped losers by 2:1, when the ASX's largest stock tumbles 6.6%, the local bourse is going to struggle to close higher.
The ASX 200 rallied strongly on Monday, closing up +0.8% with 70% of the main board finishing higher. The local bourse enjoyed a strong tailwind from US futures and commodity prices as risk markets bounced on the news of the imminent end to the US government shutdown.
The stock market didn’t crash last week, but after 7-months of “risk-on” enthusiasm, cracks have started to emerge. Rich valuations and fresh doubts over the real-world payoff of AI dragged US tech stocks to their worst week since April.
The ASX 200 bounced +0.3% on Thursday, helped by a strong session for the miners and energy names. Some stability in the likes of gold and iron ore was enough to push the sector higher, with all but a handful of names posting solid gains. The top-200 surged almost 70-points in early trade, but handed back more than half those gains as momentum waned in the afternoon, led by a couple of negative surprises on the stock level:
The ASX 200 slipped 0.11% on Wednesday, with investors taking a more risk-off stance across most sectors and stocks. The materials sector weighed the heaviest on the day, ably supported by tech names, which followed in the footsteps of overseas weakness across the “AI Trade”.
The ASX200 fell away from the get-go on Tuesday, and was not helped by a relatively hawkish rate hold from the RBA at 2.30pm. However, not all blame should be placed at the door of Michele Bullock & Co., the market opened down and was already on the skids as the US futures fell away after valuation concerns sent Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR US) lower, even after an impressive post-market report from the software and AI company.
Wall Street may have notched its worst day in over a month on Thursday, but one category of assets has fared far worse this week — meme stocks. One painful example is NuScale Power (SMR US), a popular stock in the US used to play the power generation buildout theme for AI data centres, which plummeted ~50% last week, extending its losses from mid-October.
Volatility is on the increase in equities, but it's already been high in recent months across the commodity markets, from precious metals to lithium and copper. The moves have been significant as investors and traders have battled with the usual supply and demand fundamentals, combined with the almost random-like comments coming out of the Whitehouse. However, while the resources sector hasn’t been for the fainthearted, it has outperformed in 2025, with the Materials Index up 24% year-to-date, while the previously much-loved tech space is down 11%.
This morning, we updated our views across 6 commodities using related ETFs as the need to keep our finger on the pulse increases.
The ASX200 closed down 0.2% on Wednesday, reversing early gains and closing below the psychological 8800 level. Over 50% of the main board closed higher, but another 3% drop by CBA was enough to drag the index lower, with Australia's largest bank now over 17% below its June high.
The ASX200 started Tuesday in an encouraging fashion, up ~0.5%, as the US government neared a reopening deal, before the index reversed to close down 17 points, or 0.2%. The weakness was almost entirely down to CBA, even though winners outstripped losers by 2:1, when the ASX's largest stock tumbles 6.6%, the local bourse is going to struggle to close higher.
The ASX 200 rallied strongly on Monday, closing up +0.8% with 70% of the main board finishing higher. The local bourse enjoyed a strong tailwind from US futures and commodity prices as risk markets bounced on the news of the imminent end to the US government shutdown.
The stock market didn’t crash last week, but after 7-months of “risk-on” enthusiasm, cracks have started to emerge. Rich valuations and fresh doubts over the real-world payoff of AI dragged US tech stocks to their worst week since April.
The ASX 200 bounced +0.3% on Thursday, helped by a strong session for the miners and energy names. Some stability in the likes of gold and iron ore was enough to push the sector higher, with all but a handful of names posting solid gains. The top-200 surged almost 70-points in early trade, but handed back more than half those gains as momentum waned in the afternoon, led by a couple of negative surprises on the stock level:
The ASX 200 slipped 0.11% on Wednesday, with investors taking a more risk-off stance across most sectors and stocks. The materials sector weighed the heaviest on the day, ably supported by tech names, which followed in the footsteps of overseas weakness across the “AI Trade”.
The ASX200 fell away from the get-go on Tuesday, and was not helped by a relatively hawkish rate hold from the RBA at 2.30pm. However, not all blame should be placed at the door of Michele Bullock & Co., the market opened down and was already on the skids as the US futures fell away after valuation concerns sent Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR US) lower, even after an impressive post-market report from the software and AI company.
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