Global Markets Report - 6 February

ASX set to open higher, after US indexes made modest gains.

06 February 2025

Australia

Please note: we will be discontinuing the Global Markets Report after 28 February.

Australian shares are set to open higher, after US indexes made modest gains.

ASX futures were up 0.81% or 68 points as of 8:30am on Thursday, suggesting a higher open.

After trade-war fears ballooned early this week, an old reliable-earnings season-retook center stage in US markets Wednesday.

Major stock indexes notched modest gains. The Dow Industrial Average led the pack, climbing 0.7%, or 317 points, while the S&P 500 rose by 0.4%.

Investors pored over quarterly reports from Google parent Alphabet and chip maker Advanced Micro Devices, both of which disappointed Wall Street. That dragged on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which eked out a 0.2% increase.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was down 1.9% to US$74.75 a barrel, while gold was up 0.67% to US$2,861.86.

The Australian dollar was at 62.82 US cents, up from its previous close of 62.54.

Asia

Chinese shares closed mixed. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.6% to 3,229.49, and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.4% to 1,919.59.

Hong Kong shares ended lower. The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 0.9% to 20,597.09.

Japanese shares closed higher. The Nikkei Stock Average lifted 0.1% to 38,831.48.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX declined 0.4% to 78,271.28.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished higher. The FTSE 100 Index increased 0.6% to 8,623.29.

In Europe, shares closed mixed. Germany's DAX rose 0.4% to 21,585.93, and France's CAC 40 declined 0.2% to 7,891.68.

North America

U.S. stocks ended higher. The DJIA lifted 0.7% to 44,873.28, the S&P 500 increased 0.4% to 6,061.48, and the Nasdaq gained 0.2% to 19,692.33.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Johnson Controls International PLC JCI surging 11.28%, Super Micro Computer Inc SMCI jumped 7.99%, and Electronic Arts Inc EA lifted 7.60%.

The biggest decliners were FMC Corp FMC which dropped 33.53%, IDEX Corp IEX fell 9.64%, and MarketAxess Holdings Inc MKTX lost 8.85%.

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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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