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Wall Street closed the first trading week of the new year lower for the week but had a slight uplift on Friday as the 2024 darling chip stocks lifted the indices to a positive finish on Friday. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 each snapped 5-day losing streaks to close up 1.77% and 1.26% respectively while the Dow Jones ended the day up 0.8%.

Across the European markets on Friday, it was a red finish as markets in the region tracked the lower start for global markets in 2025. Automotive and travel stocks took the biggest hit on Friday across the board, while the STOXX 600 fell 0.5%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.6%, the French CAC fell 1.52%, and, in the UK, the FTSE100 ended the day down 0.44%.

Over in the APAC region on Friday investors extended the selloff in China as the CSI index fell 1.2% amid economic stability continues its struggle to regain momentum and growth post pandemic. Elsewhere in the region, South Korea’s Kospi index rose 1.8%, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.96%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the day up 0.7%.

Locally on Friday the ASX 200 rose 0.6% buoyed by energy stocks soaring 4.5% amid a rise in the price of oil late last week to a two-month high. Trading continues to remain subdued as investors are still on holidays.

Uranium miners rallied on Friday on supply shortage concerns after Canada’s uranium giant Cameco announced suspension of production at its Kazakhstan-based uranium operation.

What to watch today:

• Ahead of Monday’s trading session here on the ASX the SPI futures are anticipating the local market will start the new trading week up 0.28%.
• On the commodities front this morning oil is trading 1.14% higher at US$73.96/barrel, gold is down 0.76% at US$2638/ounce and iron ore is down 1.16% at US$99.44/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar is buying US$0.62, 97.76 Japanese Yen, 50.05 British Pence, NZ$1.11.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has slightly increased the 12-month price target on Champion Iron (ASX:CIA) to $7.15 and maintain a buy rating on the iron ore producer following the announcement that the company has entered into a binding agreement with Nippon Steel Corporation and Sojitz Corporation to form a partnership for the joint ownership and development of the Kami Project. The analyst sees CIA will benefit from maturing high-grade iron concentrate markets and a shift into higher grade production in 2H 2025.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on QBE Insurance (ASX:QBE) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 23-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $19.69 to the range of $21.00 to $21.40 according to standard principles of technical analysis.