Global Markets Report - 31 January

ASX set to open higher, after US benchmarks ended modestly higher.

31 January 2025

Australia

Australian shares are set to open higher, after US benchmarks ended modestly higher.

ASX futures were up 0.41% or 35 points as of 8:30am on Friday, suggesting a higher open.

US stocks ended modestly higher following yesterday's results from a number of tech bellwethers. Shares of Tesla, Meta and IBM rose after releasing quarterly results, while Microsoft lost 6.2% after its cloud-computing growth disappointed. U.S. economic growth slowed some 2024, but the 2.5% annual advance was aided by strong consumer spending. UPS dropped 14% after it projected a decline in revenue for the current year, as it phases out more than half of the business it does with Amazon over the next 18 months. DJIA rose 168 points, or 0.4%, to 44,882, the S&P 500 gained 0.5% to 6,071 and the Nasdaq rose 0.3% to 19,681.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was up 0.54% to US$76.99 a barrel, while gold was up 1.41% to US$2,798.39.

The Australian dollar was at 62.15 US cents, down from its previous close of 62.31.

Asia

Chinese shares closed lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.1% to 3,250.6, and the Shenzhen Composite Index slipped 1.3% to 1,911.09.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 0.1% to 20,225.11.

Japanese shares closed higher. The Nikkei Stock Average lifted 0.3% to 39,513.97.

India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX lifted 0.3% to 76,759.81.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index lifted 1% to 8,646.88.

In Europe, shares closed higher. Germany's DAX rose 0.4% to 21,727.2, and France's CAC 40 increased 0.9% to 7,941.64.

North America

U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA lifted 0.4% to 44,882.13, the S&P 500 increased 0.5% to 6,071.17, and the Nasdaq gained 0.3% to 19,681.75.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Vistra Corp VST surging 13.59%, International Business Machines Corp IBM jumped 12.96%, and Las Vegas Sands Corp LVS lifted 11.08%.

The biggest decliners were United Parcel Service Inc UPS which dropped 14.11%, ServiceNow Inc NOW fell 11.51%, and Comcast Corp CMCSA lost 11.05%.

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AUTHOR

Morningstar
Morningstar provides data on more than 500,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 17 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets.

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