ASX rises ahead of Trump deadline; Oil climbs

The Australian sharemarket closed in the green on Tuesday amid uncertainty ahead of President Donald Trump’s latest Iran deadline, as the oil price also moved higher.

The S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.7 per cent, or 149.30 points, to 8728.80 in its first day of trading after the Easter long weekend, with all11 industry sectors in the green.

Trump has given Iran a deadline of 8pm Eastern Time in the US (10am Wednesday, AEST) to agree to a deal.

Senior investment adviser at Shaw and Partners Adam Dawes said the move higher in oil prices suggested markets were hedging that the conflict could take longer to resolve than Trump’s preferred timeline. “Higher prices mean that this issue is going to take longer,” Dawes said.

Trump said talks with Iran were “going well”, even as he insisted that freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz must be part of any accord. If Iran doesn’t agree to the US’ terms, the military may destroy “every bridge in Iran by 12 o’clock tomorrow night” and put every power plant “out of business”, Trump warned.

Mining stocks were sharply higher, with BHP rising 3.3 per cent, Rio Tinto gaining 3 per cent and Fortescue up 2.1 per cent. Gold players were mixed with Northern Star up 2 per cent and Evolution Mining down 1.6 per cent.

Financial stocks had a strong day, with Commonwealth Bank and Westpac gaining 2.4 per cent, National Australia Bank up 2.6 per cent and ANZ rising 1.7 per cent.

Oil and gas giant Woodside also rallied, rising 2.5 per cent, while Santos edged 0.1 per cent higher. Oil prices advanced. Brent, the international standard, rose 1.2 per cent to trade above $111 a barrel in the afternoon.

Tech stocks bounced, with WiseTech up 3.4 per cent and Xero up 1.7 per cent. NextDC surged 11.9 per cent after the ASX-listed data centre player launched a $1 billion wholesale hybrid securities offer, backed by a binding commitment from Canadian pension giant La Caisse. These 100-year subordinated notes are designed to bolster NextDC’s liquidity to $5.2 billion, providing the “dry powder” needed to meet a contracted forward order book that stretches into FY29.

Meanwhile, ASX-hopeful Firmus announced a $US505 million strategic equity investment round led by Coatue, with participation from AI giant Nvidia. The funding, which values Firmus at $7 billion, will fast-track “Project Southgate” – a national network of energy-efficient AI factories across Australia built on Nvidia’s latest Vera Rubin reference design. Firmus is already backed by billionaire James Packer, Maas Group founder Wes Maas and UniSuper, among others. The company, led by co-founders Oliver Curtis and Tim Rosenfield, is plotting an IPO in June or July this year.

Guzman y Gomez soared 18.6 per cent after unveiling third-quarter sales results that surpassed analyst expectations.

Australian like-for-like sales grew 6.6 per cent in the quarter, which RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Toner said was “stronger than anticipated” and a step up from the 4.8 per cent recorded in the second quarter. GYG’s Australian business brought in $320.4 million for the period. Food deliveries also drove the strong sales figure thanks to its new deal with Uber. Despite the gain, the Mexican fast food company’s share price is down nearly 40 per cent since it floated on the ASX in June 2024.

The Australian dollar was trading at US69.18¢ at 5.02pm AEST.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent, coming off its first winning week in the last six. The Dow Jones added 165 points, or 0.4 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5 per cent.

Fighting continued in the war, meanwhile, including an Israeli attack on an Iranian petrochemical plant. And in the background was the clock ticking toward Trump’s deadline – one that he has moved multiple times – for Iran to re-open the Strait of Hormuz or face US attacks on its power plants. A fifth of the world’s oil typically sails through the strait during peacetime.

Trump suggested that his latest deadline of Tuesday (US time) will be the last, saying he’d already given enough extensions. “The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” Trump said.

Monday also offered the first chance for US stock prices to react to a report from Friday that said US employers hired more workers last month than economists expected. The unemployment rate unexpectedly improved.

They’re encouraging signals for an economy that has had to absorb painful leaps in costs for petrol since the war began. The average price for a gallon of regular petrol is almost $US4.12 across the country, according to the American Automobile Association. It was below $US3 a couple of days before the US and Israel launched attacks to begin the war in late February.

On Wall Street, a split performance for the Big Tech stocks that dominate the US market kept things in check. Apple rose 1.1 per cent, and Amazon added 1.4 per cent. Tesla slid 2.2 per cent, and Microsoft fell 0.2 per cent.

Bank stocks were strong, including a 1.3 per cent rise for JPMorgan Chase. CEO Jamie Dimon said in his annual letter to shareholders on Monday that the US economy continues to be resilient, and businesses still look healthy. He, though, also acknowledged that prices for stocks and other assets are high, which could imply “anything less than positive outcomes could have a dramatic impact on global markets”.

With AP, Bloomberg

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