{"id":220690,"date":"2026-01-04T23:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T23:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/220690\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T23:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T23:22:09","slug":"markets-live-updates-oil-prices-on-watch-after-us-strikes-on-venezuela-asx-poised-to-edge-higher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/220690\/","title":{"rendered":"Markets live updates: Oil prices on watch after US strikes on Venezuela, ASX poised to edge higher"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>1h agoSun 4 Jan 2026 at 10:15pmMarket snapshot<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/lcimg-88845843-c895-43aa-823f-5fd752ee0e60.jpeg\" alt=\"Samuel Yang profile image\" class=\"Avatar_avatarImage__f1Jjg\" style=\"display:none\"\/>ASX 200 futures: +0.1% to 8,718 pointsAustralian dollar: -0.1% to 66.85 US centsS&amp;P 500 (Friday): +0.2% to 6,858 pointsNasdaq (Friday): Flat at 23,235 pointsFTSE (Friday): +0.2% to 9,951 pointsEuroStoxx (Friday): +0.9% to 617 pointsSpot gold: +0.4% to $US4,329\/ounceBrent crude: -0.2% to $US60.75\/barrelBitcoin: -0.1% to $US91,135<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Price current around 9:00am AEDT<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Live updates on the major ASX indices:<\/p>\n<p>7m agoSun 4 Jan 2026 at 11:14pmASX opens up<img alt=\"Ben Butler profile image\" class=\"Avatar_avatarImage__f1Jjg\" style=\"display:none\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The benchmark Australian market index, the ASX 200, has opened slightly higher this morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">At around 10:05am AEDT, the index was up 0.16 per cent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Uranium stocks Paladin Energy and Deep Yellow showed the biggest gains in early trade, with Paladin up 9.77 per cent and Deep Yellow up 7.46 per cent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">But there was little movement among blue chips, with Australia&#8217;s banks barely moving \u2014 of the big four, ANZ rose 0.27 per cent while the biggest bank in the country, the Commonwealth Bank, fell 0.01 per cent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Insurance company AUB Group was the bourse&#8217;s biggest loser, falling 2.09 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>28m agoSun 4 Jan 2026 at 10:53pmOil prices in downtrend as OPEC+ keeps output steady<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/lcimg-88845843-c895-43aa-823f-5fd752ee0e60.jpeg\" alt=\"Samuel Yang profile image\" class=\"Avatar_avatarImage__f1Jjg\" style=\"display:none\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Oil prices have eased after logging their biggest annual loss since 2020 as investors weigh oversupply worries against geopolitical risks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">US crude dipped 0.17% to settle at $57.32 per barrel, while Brent settled at $60.75 per barrel, down 0.16%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">On Sunday, OPEC+ held a quick meeting to keep oil output unchanged after oil prices fell more than 18% in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The group\u00a0produces about half the world&#8217;s oil.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">On Saturday, the US captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and US President Donald Trump said Washington would take control of the country until a transition to a new administration becomes possible, without saying how this would be achieved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Judging by OPEC\u2019s actions over the weekend, it\u2019s in no rush to recalibrate output in response to the US attacks on Venezuela,&#8221; senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda from capital.com said in a note.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;It chose to keep production unchanged, with the cartel emphasising stability in the crude markets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Despite downside to prices and a building supply glut in global markets, OPEC isn\u2019t rushing to put a strong floor under prices, ostensibly adopting a &#8216;wait and see&#8217; approach to market conditions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;When it comes to the charts, crude is clearly in a downtrend, with the 50 day moving average a noteworthy level of technical resistance and roughly $US55 a major level of support.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>49m agoSun 4 Jan 2026 at 10:31pmDow, S&amp;P 500 close higher on first day of 2026<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/lcimg-88845843-c895-43aa-823f-5fd752ee0e60.jpeg\" alt=\"Samuel Yang profile image\" class=\"Avatar_avatarImage__f1Jjg\" style=\"display:none\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Dow and S&amp;P 500 indexes ended higher on Friday, starting 2026 by snapping a four-day losing streak, helped by gains in chip makers Nvidia,\u00a0Intel and Boeing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">In 2025, the Dow, the S&amp;P 500 and the Nasdaq all notched double-digit gains,\u00a0their third straight year in the green, a run last seen during 2019-2021.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Chip stocks provided a boost on Friday, with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index up 4%. Industrials and utilities also gained. Caterpillar and Boeing rose 4.5% and 4.9%, boosting the Dow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">While chip stocks rallied, several market heavyweights such as Apple and Microsoft fell to keep gains in check on the S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The S&amp;P 500 and the\u00a0Nasdaq were also pressured by losses in consumer discretionary stocks including Amazon and Tesla also slid 2.6% after annual sales fell\u00a0for a second year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;It looks like the momentum in last year\u2019s top-performing technology stocks hasn&#8217;t faded, because neither has demand for artificial intelligence, as the AI infrastructure build-out accelerates,&#8221; Jessica Amir, market strategist from Moomoo Australia, said in a note.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The Dow Jones index rose 0.7% to 48,382, the S&amp;P 500 gained 0.2% to 6,858 and the Nasdaq Composite ended flat at 23,235.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">with Reuters<\/p>\n<p>1h agoSun 4 Jan 2026 at 9:52pm<\/p>\n<p>ASX to open up<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/lcimg-88845843-c895-43aa-823f-5fd752ee0e60.jpeg\" alt=\"Samuel Yang profile image\" class=\"Avatar_avatarImage__f1Jjg\" style=\"display:none\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Good morning and welcome to our first markets live blog of 2026, where we&#8217;ll bring you the latest price action and news on the ASX and beyond.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Australian shares are set to edge higher at open on Monday, with energy stocks expected to be in focus after the US strike on Venezuela sparked concerns about oil supplies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">ASX futures were up 11 points or 0.1 per cent to 8,718 at 8:30am AEDT.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">At the same time, the Australian dollar was down 0.2 per cent to 60.70 US cents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Spot gold gained 0.4 per cent to $US4,329, while Brent crude oil was down 0.2 per cent to $US60.75 a barrel.<\/p>\n<p>Loading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1h agoSun 4 Jan 2026 at 10:15pmMarket snapshotASX 200 futures: +0.1% to 8,718 pointsAustralian dollar: -0.1% to 66.85&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2372,11466,79887,19594,79889,11468,114,2288,3151,85,46,1569,2378,1010,5269,79888,5268,920,196],"class_list":["post-220690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-asian-markets","tag-asx","tag-asx-200","tag-aud","tag-australian-company","tag-australian-dollar","tag-business","tag-dollar","tag-dow-jones","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-live-blog","tag-nasdaq","tag-sp-500","tag-shares","tag-stockmarket","tag-stocks","tag-tech","tag-wall-street"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}