Overnight, Wall St closed mixed as the Dow Jones ended the day at record highs despite the sell-off earlier in the month. The S&P 500 fell 0.32%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.85% and the Dow Jones rose by 0.16% by market close.

Over in Europe, markets followed the US and closed mixed as investors react to rising tensions in the Middle East following strikes by both Israel and Hezbollah over the weekend. Germany’s DAX fell 0.09%, the French CAC gained 0.18% and over in the UK the FTSE100 ended Monday’s trading session nearly half a percent higher.

Locally yesterday, the ASX200 rallied 0.76% by market close. Gains were led by the communications services and financial sectors which rose 1.25% and 1.23% respectively. This was offset by the consumer staples sector which fell 0.85%.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open slightly higher, with the SPI futures suggesting a rise of 0.05% by market open this morning.
• On the commodities front this morning,
   
  • Oil is trading 2.98% higher at 77 US dollars and 5 cents a barrel due to supply concerns following the rising tensions in the middle east. 
  • Gold is trading 0.28% higher at 2516 US dollars and ounce and iron ore is trading 0.14% lower at 98 US dollars and 5 cents a tonne.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains a buy rating on Genusplus Group (ASX:GNP) and has increased its 12-month price target to $2.70. The buy rating is maintained by Bell Potter following positive FY24 results in which GNP reported group revenue of $551m, up 24% year-on-year, with the beat driven by better than expected industrial serviced segment sales of $153m. Bell Potter continue to see GNP as a key small-cap investment opportunity to play the theme of increasing investment in renewable energy, battery energy storage and transmission infrastructure across Australia, hence the buy rating is maintained.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal in TPG Telecom (ASX:TPG), indicating that the stock price may rise from the close of $4.65 to the range of $4.81-$4.85, on a pattern formed over 15 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.