Markets at a glance 31 January

Around the grounds

The S&P/ASX 200 has touched a fresh record high on this final trading session of the week, boosted by energy and gold, with calls for a February rate cut helping keep market sentiment rosy. The benchmark has gained 1.8% so far this week, heading for its fourth straight weekly gain after Wednesday’s soft inflation print prompted revised interest rate cut calls. For the month, the index has gained nearly 5%, which could be its best gain since December 2023.

Breaking down the detail, the gold plays have surged to a three-month peak on record bullion prices, with the sub-index on track for its sixth week of consecutive gains. Overnight the gold price scaled a fresh lifetime higher, sparked by a flock to safety due to ongoing U.S. tariff threats. The AXGD is up over 12% this year as of last close.  

Miners meantime have jumped and set for a second straight session of gains, while energy continues to climb and financials inch 0.3% higher.

In the news

Getting a check in on some of the stocks to watch in today’s trade as we approach reporting season here at home. Australian listed shares of Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) have dipped to a two-month low on disappointing full year production forecasts. This after reporting an 11% spike in sequential revenue in the second quarter, largely driven by its stake in the Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) project in Queensland, robust gas prices and higher sales.

The stock is up nearly 3% this year, as of last close.

In stark contrast, shares of LendLease (ASX: LLC) are up by over 3% at the time of writing, after the company inked a deal with Japanese trading firm Sojitz Corp to sell infrastructure investor Capella Capital for AU$235 million. The deal is expected to add AU$70 million to LLC’s FY25 operating profit after tax.

Shares are up 2.3% this year, as of last close.

In the M&A space, Insignia Financial (ASX: IFL) have slipped in today’s session but remain near a three-year high touched last week as the bidding war between U.S.-based Bain Capital and CC Capital Partners continues to ramp up.

Last week, Bain Capital upped their offer to $1.9 billion, matching rival CC Capital’s revised offer. IFL stock has gained 26.5% this year, as of last close.

And Pointsbet (ASX: PBH) shares have tanked, down over 18% at the time of writing and on track for their worst session since mid-May 2023 after the bookmaker took the axe to FY25 EBITDA and revenue forecasts. The stock is down around 2% this year, as of last close.  

Finally, some big C-suite changes at Ramsay Health Care (ASX: RHC) with its group Chief Financial Officer, Martyn Roberts, stepping down after five years in the position as he “pursues other opportunities”. This as CEO of its Australian unit, Carmel Monaghan, will retire in mid-2025 after 27 years with the company. Ramsay will undergo a global search for a new finance chief.

Going global

Rounding things out on the global stage, holidays in China, South Korea and Taiwan have made for thin trading in what started as a turmoil trading week fuelled by DeepSeek on Monday. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 however is online, adding to gains in the previous two sessions tracking mostly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. Looking at the session ahead in the U.S. futures are back online pointing to a green start when trade gets underway, which will cap off a volatile week for the majors.

On the currency plays, the Japanese yen is set up for its best January in seven years, boosted by the view the Bank of Japan (BoJ) will continue to raise rates while its global peers look to ease policy.

The Mexican peso and Canadian dollar meantime are on guard ahead of the looming February 1 deadline which U.S. President Donald Trump says could be the date he imposes 25% tariffs on imports form the two countries.

 More broadly, the big dollar is a shade higher, and is on track for a slight monthly loss of 0.3%, the euro is headed for a weekly fall of 0.9% after the ECB cut interest rates yesterdays and policymakers guided for a further rate cut in March, and sterling continues to tread water ahead of net week’s Bank of England policy meeting, where a 25-basis point cut is all but priced in.

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