The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is higher by 0.64% (56.40 points) following a positive lead by Wall Street where the S&P 500 gained 0.3% at the close while the technology-heavy NASDAQ rose 0.4%.
Lawmakers in the US have failed to come to an agreement on the country’s appropriation bills (budget allocations) with President Donald Trump threatening mass sackings of government workers if the current impasse cannot be resolved.
The materials sector is higher on the ASX by 1.33%, with top performers including Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX), which is up 10.71% to a share price of $4.96.
Assets considered ‘safe haven’ such as gold continue to test records with the World Gold Council quoting the precious metal nearing US$3,900 ($5,897) per ounce, while Bitcoin is trading at US$117,400.
Commodity prices are benefitting from a weaker US dollar after the ‘greenback’ moderated against major fiat currencies.
The iron ore price has little changed at US$103.60 per tonne and follows a day where Bloomberg reported on a ban on new shipments from BHP (ASX:BHP).
BHP did not comment on the report of a pricing dispute with its Chinese customers.
Media reporting instead cited comments made by BHP’s Western Australia Iron Ore Asset President Tim Day in Japan a week ago where Day is quoted as saying that “negotiations were challenging“.
Western Australian Premier said in a press conference that China is engaging in ‘strategic gamesmanship.’
Write to Dan Petrie at Mining.com.au
Images: Australian Securities Exchange
