On Wednesday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) had a poor session and tumbled into the red. The benchmark index fell 0.65% to 8,722.9 points.
Will the market be able to bounce back from this on Thursday? Here are five things to watch:
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ASX 200 expected to fall
It looks set to be a subdued 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 23 points or 0.25% lower this morning. In the United States, the Dow Jones was down slightly, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq tumbled 0.65%.
Buy Catapult shares
Catapult Sports Ltd (ASX: CAT) shares are in the buy zone according to analysts at Bell Potter. It has retained its buy rating and $4.65 price target on the sports technology company's shares. The broker believes recent weakness is unjustified. It said: "The Catapult share price fell by c.5% in the June quarter despite a good FY26 result in May and a reasonable rally in the share prices of other good quality tech stocks such as Life360, Pro Medicus and Technology One (up 42%, 74% and 10% respectively). The reason for the relative underperformance is unclear as Catapult has similar qualities to these other names including being global, a market leader, a high level of recurring revenue, positive free cash flow, proprietary data, low churn and a strong Balance Sheet."
Oil prices tumble
It could be a difficult session for ASX 200 energy shares Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) after oil prices tumbled overnight. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is down 2% to US$68.10 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price is down 2.4% to US$71.17 a barrel. This was driven by comments from Donald Trump indicating that US-Iran peace talks are going well.
Monadelphous shares downgraded
Monadelphous Group Ltd (ASX: MND) shares are fully valued now according to Bell Potter. This morning, the broker has downgraded the contractor's shares to a hold rating (from buy) with a trimmed price target of $32.00 (from $37.00). It said: "We also downgrade our recommendation to Hold. While contract award momentum has been strong in mid CY26, FY26 contract wins and extensions were broadly consistent with FY25. This outcome suggests sales growth to moderate in FY27, which follows three years of robust revenue compounding growth (BPe 17.3% p.a. over FY23-26)."
Gold price rises
It could be a decent session for ASX 200 gold shares Newmont Corporation (ASX: NEM) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) on Thursday after the gold price rose overnight. According to CNBC, the gold futures price is up 0.15% to US$4,044.5 an ounce. Soft US jobs data gave the precious metal a boost.
