Company Interview / the open: ASX to rise despite Wall St slip

The local market is set to open positively with ASX futures up 0.3%. This comes as most global equity markets gained overnight as investors looked to an end to the US government shutdown, while remaining wary of AI related stock valuations. 

Those concerns saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dip on Wall Street with the megacap tech stocks being the focus. Nvidia shares fell after Japanese technology investor SoftBank revealed that it had sold its stake in the AI bellwether for $5.83 billion. 

Investors are anticipating an end to the blackout period for data with prediction markets betting that the government shutdown will end on Friday. If that eventuates September's employment report is expected to be released at the beginning of next week but other data releases could be delayed. 

Gold hit a near three-week high, bolstered by expectations of an end to the US government shutdown. The US dollar is down 0.2% on the day whilst the Australian dollar is at US65.3 cents.