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Wall Street closed mixed to start the new quarter as investors rotated out of tech stocks to start the new quarter. The Dow Jones rose 0.91%, the S&P 500 fell 0.11% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day down 0.82%. Investors are also weighing the latest developments with President Trump’s major tax and spending bill while assessing comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell around the rate outlook in the US.

In Europe overnight, markets closed mostly lower as investors monitored the European Central Bank’s annual forum in Portugal. The STOXX 600 fell 0.2%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.8%, the French CAC closed flat, and, in the UK, the FTSE 100 ended the day up 0.3%.

Across the Asia region on Tuesday, markets closed mixed as investors assessed record gains on Wall St to end June and remain concerned over the global impact of tariffs amid the looming deadline day next week. China’s CSI index rose 0.17%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was closed for a public holiday, Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.24%, and South Korea’s Kospi index ended the day up 0.6%.

The ASX200 started the new trading month virtually flat as investors regrouped to navigate the start of FY26 with headwinds in the form of geopolitical tensions, trade wars and elevated valuations creeping in from FY25.

Over the last 12-months financials stocks have soared over 26% led by sector heavyweight CBA (ASX:CBA) which has experienced share price appreciation of 45% as investors flocked to safe haven investments during the last 12-months of elevated volatility and uncertainty. For the same reason, gold stocks have also been on a tear over the last financial year.

Heading into the new year, the first session of FY26 was uneventful as investors still await clarity on the tariff front, particularly on the outcome of talks between the US and China. Both rate sensitive sectors in tech and real estate stocks offset weakness among industrials and materials stocks on Tuesday.

Superannuation takeover target Insignia Financial (ASX:IFL) rallied over 5% on Tuesday after final takeover bidder, CC Capital, said it would continue working toward making a binding offer for the company after months and other bidders involved in the deal.

And in the healthcare space Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) shares rose over 8.5% after the company announced progress of its treatments with the US FDA toward commercialisation, with the company intending to file by the end of the year for accelerated approval.

What to watch today:

• On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading 0.45% higher at US$65.40/barrel, gold is up 1.04% at US$3337.65/ounce, and iron ore is down 1.12% at US$93.41/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has weakened against the greenback to buy 65.72 US cents, 94.51 Japanese Yen, 47.85 British Pence and 1 New Zealand dollar and 8 cents.
• Ahead of the midweek trading session here in Australia the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX will open the day up 0.21%.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has maintained a buy rating on Perenti (ASX:PRN) and have raised the 12-month price target to $1.80 from $1.45 following the announcement of a contract win at the Great Fingall underground project with Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) in WA worth $200m over 3-years.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Yancoal (ASX:YAL) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 9-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $5.91 to the range of $6.70 to $6.90 according to standard principles of technical analysis.