Wall St closed lower overnight as investors await the release of jobs data on Friday. The Dow Jones closed 1.35% lower, the S&P 500 lost 1.23% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.4%.

Over in Europe, markets closed higher overnight following a slow start to Q2. The STOXX600 closed 0.16% higher with mining stocks gaining 1.7%, whilst chemicals fell 0.6%. Germany’s DAX rallied 0.19%, the French CAC lost 0.2% and over in the UK the FTSE100 closed just under half a percent higher.

Locally yesterday, the ASX200 ended Thursday’s trading session 0.45% higher with all sectors finishing in the green. Gains were led by the information technology and utilities sectors which rose 1.18% and 0.94% respectively.

What to watch today: 

• The Australian share market is set to open lower, with the SPI futures suggesting a fall of 0.8% at market open this morning.
• On the commodities front this morning
   
  • Oil is trading 1.32% higher at 86 US dollars and 60 cents a barrel as continuing geopolitical tensions interrupt oil supply. 
  • Gold is trading 0.28% lower at 2291 US dollars an ounce as investors await key US jobs data to be released on Friday. 
  • And iron ore is trading 1.92% lower at 102 US dollars a tonne.

Trading Ideas: 

• Bell Potter has maintained a speculative buy rating on EBR Systems (ASX:EBR) and has increased its 12-month price target to $1.43. The speculative buy rating is maintained by Bell Potter as the results from the sub-study released six months ago provided further support for EBR’s WiSE technology developed to eliminate the need for cardiac pacing leads. There is anticipated additional equity funding post FDA approval in the first half of FY25, driving a 10% valuation adjustment.
• And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal in Dexus Convenience Retail REIT (ASX:DXC), indicating that the stock price may fall from the close of $2.69 to the range of $2.43-$2.47, on a pattern formed over 53 days according to the standard principles of technical analysis.