Mint Innovation said to be eyeing ASX listing; chip deal buoys Nasdaq

E-waste recycler Mint Innovation is being touted as a potential initial public offering candidate for the ASX, with Australian media reporting the firm is among those interested in securing a listing before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, chipmakers and semiconductor firms on both sides of the Atlantic carried on the party from a surge on South Korea’s KOSPI yesterday when Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rallied on a potential partnership with artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, which itself secured a US$500 billion valuation as some staff sold shares to a group including SoftBank and Abu Dhabi’s MGX Fund Management.

Credit analytics firm Fair Isaac – better known as FICO – led the S&P 500 higher as it jumped 20% on a plan to let mortgage lenders bypass credit bureaus such as Experian, Equifax and TransUrban in using the firm’s credit scores.

And there’s no end in sight for the US federal government shutdown as President Donald Trump's administration takes aim at Democrat priorities, while prediction markets indicate it will last for at least 10 days.

The chips are down

Stock markets on Wall Street posted modest gains with chipmaker and semiconductor firms extending the rally that started in Asia, when South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix surged on a non-binding agreement with OpenAI to supply the AI giant with chips.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite waws up 0.3% in late trading, with Nvidia, Intel Corp, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom among gainers, following similar gains for Dutch chipmaking equipment manufacturing ASML Holding. Tech stocks buoyed European stock markets, with Germany’s DAX 30 up 1.3% and France’s CAC 40 gaining 1.1%. The UK's FTSE 100 index fell 0.2%.

Meanwhile, OpenAI was valued at US$500 billion as some staff sold US$6.6 billion of shares to a group including Japan’s SoftBank and Abu Dhabi’s MGX.

Tesla dropped 4.3% after reporting record quarterly sales, with electric vehicle sales boosted by people seeking to lock in tax credits before they expired at the end of September.

Credit where it’s due

FICO led Wall Street’s S&P 500 higher as it jumped 20% after announcing a plan for mortgage lenders to bypass credit bureaus to use its well-known credit scores. Equifax and TransUnion slumped 7.5% and 10% respectively on the news. The S&P 500 was up 0.1% in late trading.

The US federal government shutdown entered its second day, with prediction markets picking it will last for at least 10 days. US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent warned the disruption might dent economic growth, while President Donald Trump’s administration targets Democrat priorities to shrink some programmes with permanent layoffs.

“Trump’s press secretary (Karoline) Leavitt said ‘it’s likely to be in the thousands’, adding that the entire team at the White House was working to identify possible cuts and looking ‘at agencies that don’t align with the administration’s values’,” Bank of New Zealand senior markets strategist Jason Wong said in a note. “This ploy aims to put pressure on Democrats to vote to reopen the government.”

The kiwi dollar traded at 58.18 US cents at 7am in Auckland from 58.27 cents yesterday.

Australian futures are pointing to a marginally soft start to the day for the S&P/ASX 200 index, while no major data are scheduled on this side of the Tasman.

And New Zealand-founded Mint Innovation is said to be eyeing up an A$80 million initial public offering on the ASX before the end of the year, with the Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column reporting the company’s locked in meetings with fund managers next week for a non-deal roadshow to help pay for a planned factory in Texas, US.

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Abolfazl Pahlavan on Unsplash.