On Tuesday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) was on form and raced higher. The benchmark index rose 0.7% to 8,630.3 points.
Will the market be able to build on this on Wednesday? Here are five things to watch:
ASX 200 expected to fall
The Australian share market looks set to fall on Wednesday following a poor night of trade on Wall Street. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 66 points or 0.75% lower this morning. In the United States, the Dow Jones was down 1%, the S&P 500 fell 0.4%, but the Nasdaq edged 0.2% higher.
Oil prices fall
ASX 200 energy shares including Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) and Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) could have a subdued session after oil prices dropped overnight. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is down 0.5% to US$66.64 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price is down 0.6% to US$68.79 a barrel. Oil prices fell after US President Donald Trump's 50-day deadline for Russia eased supply fears.
Rio Tinto update
Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) shares will be on watch today when the mining giant releases its second quarter update. Commenting on its expectations, Macquarie said: "We expect RIO's operational performance to be mixed in the 2QCY25. Our 2QCY25 production estimates for RIO miss on Pilbara Iron ore (-3%) at 79.8mt and Bauxite (-3%) at 14.2mt. RTIOC could beat by 27% at 3.2mt on our constructive view on rail availability improvement in the period. We expect TiO2 slag to beat by 6% at 280kt while copper production (consolidated basis) and Ali are in line at 201k and 854kt, respectively."
Gold price drops
It looks set to be a poor session for ASX 200 gold shares Newmont Corporation (ASX: NEM) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) after the gold price fell overnight. According to CNBC, the gold futures price is down 0.7% to US$3,335.2 an ounce. Traders were selling gold after trade tariff fears eased.
TechnologyOne shares downgraded
The team at Bell Potter thinks that TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE) shares could be overvalued. Although the broker is a big fan of the enterprise software provider, it can't look beyond its current valuation and has downgraded its shares to a sell rating with a $35.75 price target. It said: "The risk to our SELL is there is no negative catalyst we can see and, as flagged, we expect the company to beat its FY25 guidance when it reports in November. But as highlighted the market already expects the company to beat and so we neither see a positive catalyst as we do not see much upside risk to our and the market's FY25 forecast."
