Bitcoin surged 5pc to over US$54k. Picture Getty
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The ASX is poised to open lower on Tuesday, tracking movements in Wall Street. At 8am AEDT, the ASX 200 index futures contract was pointing down by -0.3%.
The S&P 500 fell by -0.38%, the blue chips Dow Jones index was down by -0.16%, and tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped by -0.81%.
Traders are bracing for a barrage of economics data this week, including inflation, and speeches from at least eight US Fed members.
“The market could remain exposed to monetary policy risks as expectations continue to change,” said Joseph Dahrieh, managing principal at Tickmill.
HSBC analysts meanwhile have upgraded their view on global stocks from underweight to neutral, acknowledging their decision to downgrade in January was “wrong”.
To stocks, crypto platform Coinbase popped +17% as the Bitcoin price surged by +5% in the last 24 hours to US$54,500.
Ford Motor fell -1.5% after halting shipments of its 2024 F-150 Lightning EV pickups.
Chipmaker Micron jumped 4% after announcing mass production of its high-bandwidth memory semiconductors for use in Nvidia’s latest AI chip.
Meanwhile back home, it will be the last day of earnings on the ASX. Stocks scheduled on the docket today include Coles and Woodside, as well as Alumina and Appen.
Bitcoin surged by 5% overnight to trade past US$54k.
There are expectations that Bitcoin’s price could reach $100,000 by June of this year, amid the growing anticipation of the halving event.
Historically, a halving event causes price fluctuations, including a drop before the event, says Rania Gule, a market analyst at XS.com.
“I do not anticipate further upward momentum in Bitcoin in the short term,” Gule added.
And over the weekend, something surprising and chaotic occurred in the crypto market as well.
Emails purportedly from Bitcoin developer Satoshi Nakamoto appeared on Friday, thanks to Marty Malmi, one of the early contributors to the leading crypto asset.
“These emails emerged during a legal battle in London involving Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright, who claimed to be Nakamoto, making his claims seem less credible.”
The dialogue between Nakamoto and Malmi revealed that the decision to cap Bitcoin supply at 21 million tokens was not arbitrary, but a deliberate choice.
“Nakamoto described it as a ‘calculated guess,’ aiming to align Bitcoin pricing mechanics with other cryptocurrencies and acknowledging uncertainty about future market conditions,” Gule said.
Gold price fell by -0.2% to US$2,031.51 an ounce.
Oil prices rose by +1.5%, with Brent now trading at US$82.45 a barrel.
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield lifted around 2 basis points (bond prices lower) to 4.27%.
Iron ore futures fell by around -4% to US$115.20 a tonne.
The Aussie dollar was down by -0.35% to US65.38c.
Tyro Payments (ASX:TYR)
In H1 FY24, gross profit increased by 10.5% on the pcp to $105.2 million. EBITDA increased 40.6% on the pcp to $27.3 million, improving EBITDA margin by 5.6 percentage points to 26%. Free cash flow increased 17.8x on the pcp to $10.4 million. Transaction value increased 2.2% on the pcp to $22.2 billion.
Keypath Education (ASX:KED)
Keypath has delivered strong growth and profitability in H1 FY24, and raised its guidance. H1 revenue was US$66.9 million, 14.0% higher than pcp. H1 Adjusted EBITDA was US$2.3 million, around US$9.1 million higher than pcp. Keypath now expects to be at the upper end of its FY24 revenue guidance range of US$130 million–US$135 million, and is raising its Adjusted EBITDA guidance to US$0 million–US$2 million. The company expects continuing improvements in positive Adjusted EBITDA into FY25.
Toro Energy (ASX:TOE)
Toro said it was advancing the design phase of its beneficiation and hydrometallurgical pilot plant in line with plans to begin its operation in the second half of 2024. The pilot plant will test the potential ore from the three uranium-vanadium deposits that Toro believes will make up an extended Lake Maitland operation.
Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR)
Assays have been received from the final two metallurgical diamond holes, completed at Cork Tree Well with bonanza-grade gold assays up to 1028.37g/t Au. Intercepts returned include 27.6m @ 17.77g/t Au from 51m. The drilling campaign represented the first diamond holes drilled at Cork Tree Well by Brightstar.
Cooper Energy (ASX:COE)
Cooper reported record YTD performance, with revenue up 5% in H1 to $105.9 million. Underlying EBITDA was up 2% to $60.9 million. Cooper said it was targeting $10 million or more of annualised savings in FY25. Over 90 initiatives have been identified, targeting 85% completion by 30 June.
At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Brightstar Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.
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