On Thursday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) had a difficult session and sank into the red. The benchmark index fell 1.1% to 8,686.1 points.
Will the market be able to bounce back from this on Friday and end the week on a high? Here are five things to watch:
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ASX 200 expected to rebound
The Australian share market looks set to rebound on Friday following a positive night of trade in the United States. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open 32 points or 0.35% higher this morning. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones was up 1.7% and the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, but the Nasdaq edged 0.1% lower.
Oil prices tumble
ASX 200 energy shares including Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) could have a poor finish to the week after oil prices pulled back overnight. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is down 3% to US$93.12 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price is down 2.6% to US$95.25 a barrel. Traders were selling oil amid reports that US President Donald Trump is reluctant to resume a full-scale war with Iran despite recent clashes.
IperionX shares named as a buy
IperionX Ltd (ASX: IPX) shares are in the buy zone according to analysts at Bell Potter. This morning, the broker has retained its speculative buy rating and $8.25 price target on the titanium production technologies company's shares. It said: "IPX has the potential to disrupt the incumbent titanium supply chain through materially lowering production costs and manufacturing waste. The company will incrementally expand capacity and progress commercial relationships with aerospace, automotive, luxury goods and government end users. IPX will benefit from increased defence sector spending and with its focus on domestic US manufacturing."
Gold price rises
ASX 200 gold shares including Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) and Newmont Corporation (ASX: NEM) could have a good finish to the week after the gold price rose overnight. According to CNBC, the gold futures price is up 0.9% to US$4,506.9 an ounce. The precious metal was given a boost from a weaker US dollar and softening bond yields.
Megaport shares to return
Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) shares will be worth watching on Friday when the network solutions company returns to trade. Megaport is 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, commented: "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."
