Precious metal surge stalls, keeping miners in spotlight

Australian futures are pointing to a slow start for the ASX as silver and gold prices ended their recent surge with a sharp pullback after exchange operator CME Group raised its margin requirements for precious metal futures, keeping the likes of trans-Tasman mining companies such as Santana Minerals and Manuka Resources in the spotlight in the thin holiday trading.

Mining majors such as Newmont and Freeport-McMoran were among those on the red side of the ledger in North American trading, with stocks on Wall Street falling for another day as megacap tech companies including Nvidia and Tesla declined.

Oil majors rallied, with Chevron posting the biggest gain on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as Brent crude futures advanced after US President Donald Trump’s latest efforts to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine amounted to little tangible movement, and as US tensions with Venezuela crimp tanker activity around the Latin American nation.

Meanwhile, data centres continue to hold an allure for investors, with SoftBank Group shelling out US$4 billion to buy US-listed DataBridge and BlackStone’s AirTrunk said to be considering a real estate investment trust listing in Singapore to raise more than US$1 billion.

Getting resourceful

Australian futures are pointing to a 0.1% decline for the resources-heavy S&P/ASX 200 index when trading opens across the Tasman, following the soft lead in New York and tracking the sharp reversal of surging silver and gold prices.

Gold futures were down 4.7% at US$4,341 an ounce at 7am in Auckland as precious metals ended their recent rally after exchange operator CME Group raised its margin requirements on gold, silver and platinum futures amid the recent volatility.

Mining companies Newmont and Freeport-McMoran were among those on the red side of the ledger in New York, while local prospective miner Santana Minerals and Manuka Resources will remain in the spotlight today after finding strong support on Monday in New Zealand.

Stocks on Wall Street were generally softer, with mega-caps including Nvidia and Tesla declining. The S&P 500 was down 0.5% in late trading, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average sipped 0.6% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.7%.

Local tech companies were broadly stronger on Monday, with Gentrack, Serko, Eroad, and ikeGPS among the day’s gainers.

Data centres remain in view, with New York-listed DataBridge jumping 9.7% after Japan’s SoftBank lobbed in a US$4 billion offer – including debt – for the digital infrastructure firm. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported Australian data centre operator AirTrunk – which was bought by Blackstone in a record deal in 2024 – is considering a potential real estate investment trust initial public offering in Singapore.

Dual-listed Infratil, which counts the CDC data centres unit as its biggest investment, was the most traded ASX security by Sharesies users on Monday.

Black gold

Big oil companies were among the day’s gainers, with Chevron’s 0.7% increase the biggest gain on the Dow Industrial, while Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP followed oil prices higher.

Brent crude futures were up 1.9% at US$61.36 a barrel at 7am in Auckland after US President Donald Trump’s talks with his counterparts in Russia and Ukraine delivered optimism that a ceasefire is achievable without outlining any concrete steps towards peace.

Meanwhile, tensions between the US and Venezuela remain high, with oil tanker activity around the Latin American nation slowing down.

The ceasefire talks sapped demand for European defence stocks, with Italy’s Leonardo and Germany’s Rheinmetall declining on the day. European stock markets were less dour, as the UK’s FTSE 100 was marginally lower, while France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX 30 both nudged up 0.1%.

And the kiwi dollar was broadly weaker against most of its major peers, falling to 58.03 US cents at 7am in Auckland from 58.30 cents yesterday. It traded at 86.78 Australian cents from 86.69 cents on Monday.

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Scottsdale Mint on Unsplash.