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Wall St closed mixed on Thursday as the Dow Jones closed at fresh highs overnight. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.23%, the S&P500 remained flat and the Dow Jones gained 0.59% to end the trading day.

Over in Europe, markets closed higher as investors reacted to interest rate decisions across Europe. The STOXX600 closed 0-.74% higher with all major sectors ending Thursday’s trading session in the green. Gains were led by tech stocks which rose 2.05%, following the announcement of quarterly results from AI giant, Nvidia. Germany’s DAX rose 0.69%, the French CAC gained 0.84% and over in the UK, the FTSE100 rallied 0.43% by the closing bell.

Locally yesterday, the ASX200 ended Thursday’s trading session 0.26% higher, despite the majority of sectors closing in the red. The two major sectors which did end the day positive were the financial and real estate sectors which gained 1.46% and 1.19% respectively. This was offset by the information technology sector which fell 1.88%.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open higher, with the SPI futures suggesting a rise of 0.64% by market open this morning.
• On the commodities front this morning,
  • Oil is trading 1.65% higher at 75 US dollars and 75 cents a barrel, gold is trading over half a percent higher at 2521 US dollars an ounce and iron ore is trading 0.06% higher at 98 US dollars and 51 cents a tonne.

Trading Idea:

• Bell Potter maintains a speculative buy rating on Matrix Composites & Engineering (ASX:MCE) and has increased its 12-month price target to $0.44. The speculative buy rating is maintained by Bell Potter following the release of FY24 results in which reported revenue was up 80% year-on-year, in line with guidance and forecast. MCE is also exposed to a protracted capital expenditure up-cycle across the global off-shore energy sector and is leveraged to growing activity across the global offshore floating wind sector, providing a medium-term earnings catalyst.