ASX Prepares to Rise After Late Rally on Wall Street

Australian stocks are poised to rally higher on Friday, after Wall Street snapped its losing streak despite a drop in commodity prices.

ASX SPI 200 futures were up 0.3 percent at 6,820 by 6:43 a.m. AEST.

The Australian dollar fell 0.7 percent to 67.86 cents on the dollar.

After losing ground for most of the day, the Dow jumped nearly half a percent just before closing in on 31,656.

The S&P 500 also rose, ending trading 0.3 percent at 3,966. Both indices ended a four-day losing streak.

However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite posted a five-day losing streak. The index lost 0.3 percent to 11,785.

The recovery in US indices came after days of losses following Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech last week in which he signaled that the central bank will remain aggressive in raising rates to combat the inflation.

Positive economic data that showed the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell to a two-month low last week, while layoffs fell in August, suggest aggressive rate hikes will continue to seed the labor market. .

In the main index, health care gained 1.6 percent and utilities 1.4 percent.

The tech sector fell half a percent, pressured by chipmakers. Nvidia was the biggest drag on the S&P 500, down 7.6%, while Advanced Micro Devices fell 3% after the United States imposed an export ban on some major AI chips to China.

Spot gold was down 1.1% and trading at $1,706.50.

In oil markets, Brent crude fell 3.6 percent to $92.23 a barrel, while West Texas crude lost 3.5 percent to $86.37 a barrel.

Iron ore fell 8 percent to $96.39.

The drop in oil prices came as China’s new COVID-19 lockdown measures fueled concerns about inflation and rate hikes were weighing on fuel demand.

In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 1.8 percent, Germany’s DAX lost 1.6 percent and Britain’s FTSE fell 1.8 percent.