Company Interview / the open: Gold surges, ASX set to climb

The local market is set to open strongly with ASX futures up 0.8% in line with a late recovery on Wall Street.

 Shares in the US recovered despite investors remaining cautious amid simmering trade tensions between China and the US. Among the tech stocks, Nvidia rose along with Meta whilst Tesla fell after it reported lower monthly sales for Denmark, Portugal and Sweden.   

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has asked a US appeals court to pause a second court ruling that found the president had exceeded his authority by imposing sweeping tariffs on imports, saying the decision jeopardizes trade negotiations with other nations. 

Oil prices climbed nearly 3%, following supply concerns as producer group OPEC+ decided not to accelerate plans to hike output and wildfires in Canada’s oil-producing provinces disrupted production. And gold has climbed to a 3 week high, with spot gold up more than 2.5% at $3379 an ounce. This comes as a weakening dollar, rising geopolitical risk and economic uncertainty fueled demand for safe-haven assets. 

Bitcoin is trading around US$105,000, whilst the Australian dollar has risen to US$64.9c. Locally, today the annual award wage decision is handed down, and the balance of payments for the March quarter will be released.