On Wednesday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) had a positive session and raced higher. The benchmark index rose 0.7% to 8,785.7 points.
Will the market be able to build on this on Thursday? Here are five things to watch:
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ASX 200 expected to tumble
It looks set to be a poor session for Australian investors on Thursday after a poor night on Wall Street. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 65 points or 0.75% lower this morning. In the United States, the Dow Jones was down 1.2%, the S&P 500 fell 0.75%, and the Nasdaq dropped 0.9%.
Megaport shares on watch
Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) shares will be on watch today if they return from their trading halt. The network solutions company is currently undertaking a capital raising after announcing four new artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure contracts with a combined total contract value of approximately $458.9 million. Megaport's CEO, Michael Reid, said: "AI inference is becoming a global infrastructure challenge, not simply a GPU problem. As AI adoption accelerates, organisations need seamless access to GPUs, CPUs, storage, and the connectivity that powers them. Megaport is built to deliver it all."
Oil prices rise
It could be a good day for ASX 200 energy shares Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) after oil prices charged higher overnight. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is up 2.7% to US$96.31 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price is up 2.1% to US$98.00 a barrel. An escalation in US-Iran tensions sent oil prices charging higher last night.
Buy SRG shares
The SRG Global Ltd (ASX: SRG) share price has more than doubled in value over the past 12 months. Despite this, Bell Potter believes the diversified industrial services company's shares are good value. In response to a contracts update, the broker has retained its buy rating with an improved price target of $4.25 (from $3.15). It said: "Management have demonstrated a strong track-record of operational execution, delivered accretive acquisitions (Diona and TAMS in recent years) and guidance outperformance. We see upside to consensus earnings forecasts from forthcoming guidance upgrades and accretive acquisitions. With FCF expanding over FY26-28, we anticipate SRG will be well capitalised to self-fund acquisitions."
Gold price drops
It looks likely to be a tough session for ASX 200 gold shares Newmont Corporation (ASX: NEM) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) on Thursday after the gold price dropped overnight. According to CNBC, the gold futures price is down 1.15% to US$4,467.4 an ounce. Higher oil prices have fuelled inflation and rate hike fears.
