The uncertainty surrounding growth and inflation in the US continues to fuel volatility in global markets.
While US equities started the session higher overnight (AEST), most of the gains were reversed by the closing bell, though the indices did remain in positive territory.
Following suit, the S&P/ASX200 opened in the green this morning (15 April), lifting a marginal 13.7 points, or 0.18%, to 7,762.3 points by 10.30am (AEST). Over the last five days the index has gained 3.36%, but is down 4.86% for the last year to date.
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said in his economic outlook speech overnight that US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy is one of the biggest shocks to affect the US economy in many decades.
“While I expect the inflationary effects of higher tariffs to be temporary, their effects on output and employment could be longer-lasting and an important factor in determining the appropriate stance of monetary policy,” Waller said.
“If the slowdown is significant and even threatens a recession, then I would expect to favor cutting the FOMC’s policy rate sooner, and to a greater extent than I had previously thought.”
Meanwhile, to give the US some breathing room on growing its domestic car manufacturing industry, Trump is said to be considering exemptions to auto tariffs.
Commodity markets were little changed overnight, with the economic uncertainty paring back early gains.
Profit taking and increased demand for US Treasuries saw gold edge down, while copper climbed following Trump’s exemptions on consumer electronics and only a marginal dip in Chinese copper imports.
Earlier today, gold was fetching around $3,213 ($5,084) an ounce, while copper advanced 2.3% to trade at around US$10,238 a tonne.
In early trade, more sectors of the S&P/ASX200 were lower than higher. Materials was again the best performing, adding 0.45% in early trade and up 4.91% over the past five sessions.
Industrials was just in the green with a 0.04% tick up, while utilities slipped 0.14%, and energy inched down 0.01%.
The rare earths and copper plays were among the top gainers shortly after the opening bell, likely due to China’s recently announced export controls on rare earths and the positive data on the country’s copper imports.
Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) climbed 4.06% to $3.58, while Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) jumped 3.79% to $8.08. Capstone Copper (AS:CSC), meanwhile, ticked up 2.37% to $6.92 and lithium miner Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) advanced 3.81% to $0.55.
Gold miners Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) and Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX), however, retreated 20.09% to $0.92 and 2.29% to $2.99, respectively.
Bellevue today announced the completion of $156.5 million institutional placement, which was fully underwritten by Canaccord Genuity (Australia), UBS Securities Australia and Argonaut PCF.
The placement was done at a 25.8% discount to the last traded price of $1.145 on 26 March 2025, and a 30.2% discount to the five-day volume weighted average price up to and including 26 March.
The S&P/ASX200 is Australia’s leading share market index and contains the top 200 ASX-listed companies in terms of market capitalisation, and accounts for about 80% of the country’s equity market. The index is designed to measure the performance of the 200 largest index-eligible stocks listed on the ASX by float-adjusted market capitalisation.
It is recognised as the institutional investable benchmark in the country.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: ASX & iStock
