Rise and Shine: Everything you need to know before the ASX opens

Rise and Shine ASX 12 August

Good morning everyone and welcome to Rise and Shine on Monday, August 12, 2025. Here’s what you should know before the ASX opens today…

At 7am AEST, ASX futures were down 0.1%, pointing to a soft start on Tuesday.

Here’s what went down while we were sleeping…

Wall Street takes a breather

The rally from April’s lows finally paused for air, with the Dow down 0.45%, S&P 500 off 0.25%, and the Nasdaq also easing 0.3%.

STOCK INDICES	Value	Change
ASX 200 (previous day)	8,845	0.43%
S&P 500	6,373	-0.25%
Dow Jones	43,975	-0.45%
Nasdaq Comp	21,385	-0.30%
Euro Stoxx 50	5,332	-0.30%
UK FTSE	9,130	0.37%
German DAX	24,081	-0.34%
French CAC	7,699	-0.57%

Blame it on pre-CPI jitters (due later tonight US time), as nobody wants to sprint before the stopwatch starts.

Apple dipped 1% after last week’s sugar-rush surge, while Tesla charged ahead 3% on news it’s eyeing a UK electricity supply licence.

Intel jumped 3.5% ahead of CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s White House meeting, where he’s apparently pitching ways to cosy up to government contracts after Trump called for his resignation.

Meanwhile, chip darlings Nvidia and AMD slipped fractionally despite a new export deal with the US government that smells more like a royalty cut than a trade pact.

Reports said that 15% of China-destined sales will now go straight to Uncle Sam in exchange for licence approvals.

Bitcoin breaks out

Bitcoin smashed through US$122,000 overnight before easing to ~US$118,000.

The rally has been helped by ETF inflows, corporate treasury buying, and a pro-crypto executive order letting 401(k) retirement plans hold BTC.

The latter potentially opens up US$9 trillion in pension money to the crypto world.

Ethereum also joined the party, tripling from April lows to sit above US$4,250.

RBA in the spotlight

At 2.30pm AEST, Michele Bullock will step up and, almost certainly, slice the cash rate by 25bps to 3.60%.

That’s the broad market call anyway, and betting against the RBA consensus is usually like betting against gravity.

This isn’t a shock move. Australia’s economy has been running in that awkward zone between “we’re fine” and “we could use a little help”.

“Unlike last month where the RBA surprised the market by declining to cut, the bigger question for markets is how the RBA will manage its communication going forward,” said Scott Solomon from T. Rowe Price.

Why does the message matter?

Because every word Bullock drops in the post-meeting presser at 3.30pm will shape expectations for the rest of the year.

Three more cuts are still the bookies’ favourite before December, but the calendar’s running out of space, and a single hint of caution could push those bets into 2026.

Commodity/forex/crypto market prices

	Price (US)	Move
Gold:	$3,342.50	-1.66%
Silver:	$37.61	-1.92%
Iron ore:	$101.22	0.01%
Nickel:	$15,325	1.39%
Copper:	$8,854	-0.81%
Zinc:	$2,814	-0.66%
Lithium carbonate 99.5% Min China Spot:	$8,550	0.60%
Oil (WTI):	$64.00	0.19%
Oil (Brent):	$66.68	0.14%
AUD/USD:	$0.6513	0.04%
Bitcoin:	$118,863	-0.37%

What got you talking

Also in the news…

Argenica Therapeutics (ASX:AGN) is counting down to September for phase II trial results on ARG-007. It’s a synthetic peptide designed to keep brain cells alive in the vital minutes after a stroke or head injury.

Northern Star’s $6b De Grey buyout is barely in the rearview, but ex-chair Simon Lill is already charging ahead with Ballard Mining (ASX:BM1.

Spun out of Delta Lithium with $30m in the bank and a “rock star” register, Ballard’s chasing a million-ounce WA gold resource that’s barely been touched.

Break It Down Host Tylah Tully looks at the latest news from Nordic Resources (ASX:NNL), which has appointed Henrik Grind as country manager to oversee exploration across its Finnish portfolio.