ASX 200 rises after Dow Jones closes at record high, Brent crude oil under $US100 a barrel — as it happened

And that's where we might end our business blog for another day.

The ASX 200 made modest gains to continue its upward trend from Friday.

But the big news was the decline in the price of oil, which dropped by around 5% to below $US100 a barrel.

We'll catch you bright and early tomorrow!

The United States celebrates Memorial Day on Monday, so American markets will be closed tonight (Australia-time).

Memorial Day is considered the unofficial start of the warm weather season (although summer begins on June 20th).

So our Tuesday trading on the ASX 200 won't be impacted by what happens on Wall Street, as New Yorkers will be heading into parks (and possibly to east coast beaches).

It was a clear-cut picture on the ASX 200 on Monday, with resources shares leading the way.

Resolute Mining stocks rose by almost 10%, while Genesis Minerals wasn't far behind, up more than 9%.

At the other end of the scale, there were plenty of sore and sorry energy companies.

Even with the Dow Jones setting new records to close out last week, ASX 200 futures pointed to a negative start to the day.

And that's what we got.

But within minutes, driven by commodities stocks, the ASX 200 surged.

Those gains were pegged back in the afternoon, dragged down by the Energy sector.

But a 0.4 per cent rise in value was better than a poke in the eye for investors, making it two straight days of gains.

That wasn't a bad way at all to start the new trading week.

The ASX 200 has closed out Monday with a rise of 35 points, or 0.4%.

It's sitting at 8,692.

The All Ordinaries is up by 38 points, or 0.43%, to 8,915.4.

This came after the futures predicted a negative session, so that's a pretty good outcome.

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Sydney-listed Guzman y Gomez in the US by a group of employees alleging failure to provide a 60-day notice on the closure of American operations, a court document has shown.

The Mexican-themed restaurant chain whose global growth plans powered a blockbuster sharemarket listing in 2024, last week said it was quitting the US due to poor sales.

"GYG is aware of legal action filed in the United States, and we are confident we have met all of our legal obligations to our U.S. employees," a spokesperson said.

"We are not in a position to provide further comment on this matter."

After jumping more than 7% to start the day, Guzman y Gomez shares are flat as we approach the end of trading on the ASX 200 for Monday.

Earlier, we shared Daniel Ziffer's excellent article about how the latest data shows that many Australians feel "stuck" in their lives -- in their jobs, in their cities and with their ambitions.

Now Dan takes it a step further, as he fills in for regular host Carrington Clarke on ABC Business Daily.

He's joined by ABC News Business Editor Michael Janda to explore the subject further, while touching on global steel output and its impact on Australian exports of iron ore.

Listen here:

• ASX 200: +0.4% to 8,692 points (live numbers below)
  
• Australian dollar: +0.6% at 71.69 US cents
  
• Wall Street: Dow Jones (+0.6%), S&P 500 (+0.4%), Nasdaq (0.2%)
• Europe: FTSE (+0.2%)
• Asia: Nikkei (+3.2%), KOSPI (+0.4%), Hang Seng (+0.9%)
• Spot gold: +1.2% to $US4,564/ounce 
  
• Brent crude: -5.5% to $US97.83/barrel 
  
• Iron ore: -0.1% $US109.67/tonne
  
• Bitcoin: +1% to $US77,334
  

Prices current around 3:11pm AEST

Live updates on the major ASX indices:

The Australian government has taken care of Rex Airlines' debts to regional councils across the country to the tune of $4.8 million.

NSW received almost $2 million, with the biggest debt owed to Dubbo Regional Council in Central West NSW, which was owed nearly $600,000.

Rex Airlines went into voluntary administration on 30 July 2024 after suspending its city jet operations.

Read more here:

Brent crude oil futures are now below $US98 a barrel, having dropped almost 6% today.

Optimism is growing that the United States and Iran are moving closer to a peace deal.

But they remain at odds over key issues, such as blockades on the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude dropped to its lowest price since May 7th during Monday's trading.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is at $US90.85 a barrel, down $US5.75, or 6%. 

The latest crackdown on mainland Chinese investors using offshore brokers to buy overseas shares was announced on Friday by China's securities regulator and other agencies.

On Monday, mainland China stocks climbed, lifted by gains in the coal sector after the country's worst mine disaster in 17 years, while semiconductor shares also aided the market.

Chinese coking coal prices soared to their highest in nearly two weeks and a sub-index tracking the coal industry jumped 2.4% after the accident late on Friday.

Brokerage shares also advanced after Beijing warned it would punish brokers it accused of illegally moving money to foreign markets.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index inched higher by 0.6%, while China's blue-chip CSI300 Index rose 0.9%.

"The actual impact [of the crackdown] on Hong Kong stocks and Chinese ADRs in the broader market is relatively limited, and the trend toward improved liquidity in the Hong Kong stock market will remain unchanged," analysts at SWS Research said in a note.

"In the short term, the impact on the market is primarily psychological; in terms of liquidity, the actual impact on large-cap blue-chip stocks in overseas markets is minimal."

Hong Kong markets were closed for a public holiday, and will resume trading on Tuesday.

With reporting by Reuters

• ASX 200: +0.6% to 8,695 points (live numbers below)
  
• Australian dollar: +0.4% at 71.67 US cents
  
• Wall Street: Dow Jones (+0.6%), S&P 500 (+0.4%), Nasdaq (0.2%)
• Europe: FTSE (+0.2%)
• Asia: Nikkei (+3.1%), KOSPI (+0.9%), Hang Seng (+0.9%)
• Spot gold: +1.1% to $US4,561/ounce 
  
• Brent crude: -5.6% to $US97.77/barrel 
  
• Iron ore: -0.1% $US109.67/tonne
  
• Bitcoin: +0.5% to $US76,968
  

Prices current around 2:06pm AEST

Live updates on the major ASX indices:

Australia’s April CPI figures will be released on Wednesday by the ABS.

This is the monthly inflation indicator and will be one of the key events of the week.

March's number was a jarring 4.6% annual reading. Expectations are below that, possibly 4.4%.

Josh Gilbert, lead analyst for APAC at eToro, says the number will impact the RBA's direction on rates.

"A softer reading would start to build the case that the work the RBA has already done is working," he said.

"A hot print, however, will only ignite expectations of another hike in the back end of the year. At this current juncture, that seems more likely."

Trimmed mean inflation would be the "focal point", Mr Gilbert said.

"We've seen headline inflation thrown around over the last few months by energy prices and the fuel excise changes, but the RBA cares about what's underneath," he said

"Ultimately, that trimmed inflation number has been stubbornly above the top of the 2-3% target band for longer than anyone is comfortable with, and until that breaks decisively lower, the RBA can't claim the job is done."

The federal government's budget measure of a 30% minimum tax rate for capital gains and discretionary trusts has been the major point of contention in the nearly two weeks since it was handed down.

There has been growing pressure  for the government to explain how it will support start-ups and small businesses as industry figures speak out against the changes.

Alan Kohler explains how the 30% rate works and what it means:

We're keeping a close eye on Australia's real estate market and how the recent budget is affecting sentiment.

Cotality's Property Market Indicator reports that the auction clearance rate for Australia's capital cities is still below 60%.

It is at 58.2%, up from the 57.5% low recorded the week prior in the wake of policy changes in the 2026-27 federal budget.

Cotality says the rate has stayed under the 60% benchmark for six of the last eight weeks.

The figures were based on 2,339 auction listings, which was 4.9% below the volume recorded during the same period last year.

Adelaide was the best performing capital city with a preliminary clearance rate of 72%, while Brisbane had its worst numbers in more than three years: just 45.7%

As for Australia's two biggest cities, Melbourne was at 60.2%, Sydney rose to 56.9%.

• ASX 200: +0.6% to 8,706 points (live numbers below)
  
• Australian dollar: +0.6% at 71.67 US cents
  
• Wall Street: Dow Jones (+0.6%), S&P 500 (+0.4%), Nasdaq (0.2%)
• Europe: FTSE (+0.2%)
• Asia: Nikkei (+2.7%), KOSPI (+1.6%), Hang Seng (+0.3%)
• Spot gold: +1.3% to $US4,564/ounce 
  
• Brent crude: -4.6% to $US98.79/barrel 
  
• Iron ore: -0.1% $US109.67/tonne
  
• Bitcoin: +0.7% to $US77,092
  

Prices current around 12:49pm AEST

Live updates on the major ASX indices:

Resources stocks are dominating the gains on the ASX 200, with strength across gold, aluminium and coal producers.

Top performers included Resolute Mining, Alcoa, Whitehaven Coal, Yancoal and Greatland, as investors moved into commodity-linked names.

Charter Hall Group stood out as the major non-resources performer, with the property and funds management company joining the leaders despite the sector focus elsewhere in the market.

We're approaching the midway point of the trading session and the ASX 200 is tracking along quite nicely.

It's up by more than 40 points or 0.5%, having started the day in negative territory.

The best performing sector is Basic Materials, with many mining stocks on the rise.

And, not surprisingly, with the price of oil dropping, Energy has lost the most ground.

Always good to know for your trivia night.... and from mid to late this year it will be $1.85.

The consumer watchdog ACCC has essentially waved through the +8% price bump from Australia Post. It's asking for consultation on its preliminary view to say 'yes' to the ask.

As part of the deal:

• Australia Post is not proposing to increase the price of concession stamps (60 cents each) or seasonal greeting card stamps (65 cents each).
• Australia Post also increased the number of concession stamps available to eligible consumers from 50 to 75 each year, in response to a recommendation from the ACCC.

Why support the rise? The ACCC has found that Australia Post’s reserved letter service revenue is unlikely to exceed its efficient costs.

Here's ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey:

“Our assessment found Australia Post will likely fall slightly short of covering its efficient costs with the proposed price increase,” 

“Without a price increase on stamps, Australia Post’s reserved letter service would be likely to experience a much larger shortfall."