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Wall Street closed mixed on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve’s latest policy update kept the US interest rate steady with Chair Jerome Powell signalling it would wait to see the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on inflation before proceeding with rate cuts. The Dow Jones fell 0.1%, the S&P 500 slipped just 0.03% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day up 0.13%.

In Europe overnight, markets in the region closed mostly lower as investors continue to monitor the latest developments in the Middle East. The STOXX 600 fell 0.34%, Germany’s DAX and the French CAC each lost 0.4% and the FTSE 100 ended the day up 0.1%.

Across the Asia region on Wednesday, markets in the region closed mixed amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.9%, South Korea’s Kospi Index climbed 0.74%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.12% and China’s CSI index ended the day up 0.12%.

The local market’s lacklustre performance this week extended into the midweek session with the key index ending the day down 0.12% as Iran-Israel attacks entered a 5th straight day and global markets were sold off on Tuesday as a result with no end-date or macro certainty in sight.

Profit taking has hit the gold stocks yesterday with investors cashing in recent gains to capitalise on the soaring gold price which topped another record just days ago.

Retailers have done it tough lately with widespread sell-offs amid elevated promotional activity leading to margin contraction as well as downgraded guidance and weaker outlook. Lovisa tumbled 5% yesterday despite no news out of the fashion jewellery retailer.

What to watch today

• On the commodities front this morning oil is trading 0.4% higher at US$75.15/barrel, gold is down 0.36% at US$3375/ounce and iron ore is trading 0.16% lower at US$94.71/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has strengthened against the greenback to buy 65.07 US cents, 94.34 Japanese Yen, 48.33 British Pence and 1 New Zealand dollar 8 cents.
• The SPI futures are anticipating the ASX will open the day down 0.23% extending on yesterday’s losses.

Trading ideas

• Bell Potter has downgraded the rating on Centuria Office REIT (ASX:COF) to a sell from a hold and have reduced the 12-month price target on the externally-managed REIT from $1.20 to $1.10 as the analyst feels the share price has run ahead of market conditions.
• And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on Duratec (ASX:DUR) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 113-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may fall from the close of $1.36 to the range of $0.95 to $1.03 according to standard principles of technical analysis.