ASX today, ASX futures up 0.97%, Nikkei down 4.9%

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Samso Market Update | Friday, 16 October 2026 | Pre-market 9:45am AEDT

Futures point to a higher open on the ASX today. ASX 200 futures were up 0.97% at 8,838 points, according to the ABC News market snapshot, with prices at about 7:00am AEDT. A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell at a set price on a later date, and its price shows where traders expect the index to go. The 0.97% rise is measured on the futures contract, not against Thursday's index close.

The S&P/ASX 200 closed on Thursday at 8,719.7, down 8.2 points or 0.09%. The All Ordinaries, which tracks the 500 largest listed companies, fell 0.32% to 8,840.4. The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries, an index of the companies ranked 101 to 300 by size, fell 2.19% to 3,120.4. The Australian dollar was buying approximately 69.2 US cents at 8:45am AEDT. Thursday's edition is at ASX today, Thursday 15 October 2026, and Wednesday's is at ASX today, Wednesday 14 October 2026.

ASX today: Key Highlights

ASX 200 futures were up 0.97% at 8,838 at about 7:00am AEDT (ABC News).
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.08% and the S&P 500 rose 0.33%. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.08%.
The Nikkei 225 fell 4.90% on Thursday, its biggest one-day fall since March, according to Trading Economics.
US producer prices rose 6.3% in the year to September, above the 5.5% expected, according to Yahoo Finance.
The Australian dollar was at approximately 69.2 US cents, down 0.78% from the previous session.

Wall Street overnight

Wall Street finished higher on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 556.21 points or 1.08% to 52,177.69. The S&P 500 rose 0.33% to 7,744.06. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.08% to 26,713.03. The Russell 2000, an index of smaller US companies, rose 1.38% to 2,767.27.

The producer price index, which measures the prices businesses receive for their goods and services, rose 1.3% in September against 0.6% expected, and 6.3% over the year against 5.5% expected, according to Yahoo Finance. US retail sales rose 0.8% in September against 0.4% expected. Weekly claims for unemployment benefits were 199,000.

Quartz reported in early trade that technology shares were falling for a second day on worries about artificial intelligence spending. CoreWeave was down 7% in early trade on concerns about its borrowing for its AI build-out, and Advanced Micro Devices was down 5%, according to Quartz. Walmart was up 4% and Merck more than 3% in early trade. TheStreet reported at midday that consumer, health care and financial shares were lifting the Dow.

A Treasury is a US government bond. A bond yield is the yearly return from buying a government bond at today's price, and when yields rise, bond prices fall. A basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point. The US 10-year Treasury yield was at approximately 5.09% late in the New York session, down about 10 basis points from Wednesday (Yahoo Finance data). TheStreet quoted 5.085%, down 10.5 basis points, at 3:19pm New York time.

Japan

The Nikkei 225 closed on Thursday at 64,425.95, down 3,318.34 points or 4.90%. Trading Economics called it the biggest one-day fall since March, and linked it to doubts over whether large AI investments will pay off. It named Advantest (down 14.2%), Kioxia (down 12.5%), Lasertec (down 13.3%) and SoftBank Group (down 8.9%) among the fallers. The US dollar was buying approximately 157.98 yen at 8:45am AEDT. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.03% and the Shanghai Composite fell 1.59% on Thursday.

London and Europe

London's FTSE 100 closed on Thursday at 10,840.35, up 1.08% (Yahoo Finance data). Trading Economics reported its highest level since 26 August, with money moving into defensive shares, those whose earnings tend to hold up when the economy slows, and UK economic output growing 0.1% in August against forecasts of a fall. Antofagasta fell 3.8% after missing its third-quarter copper production estimates, according to Trading Economics. Germany's DAX rose 0.33% to 25,382.62. France's CAC 40 rose 0.78% to 7,934.70.

Currencies

The Australian dollar was buying approximately 69.2 US cents at 8:45am AEDT, down 0.78% from the previous session. The ABC reported that it fell as much as 1.1% overnight to its lowest level since early July, after Thursday's figures showed unemployment at 4.7% in September, and that markets scaled back expectations of a Reserve Bank rate rise on Melbourne Cup day. The US dollar index, which measures the US dollar against six major currencies, was at approximately 102.01 at 8:36am AEDT, down 0.52%. The euro was at approximately US$1.122.

Commodities

The contract month is the month a futures contract falls due. Prices below are the latest trades at about 8:00am AEDT (Yahoo Finance). Gold futures for December were at US$4,192.50 an ounce, up 2.06%. Silver futures for December were at US$57.61 an ounce, up 3.70% (Yahoo Finance data). Copper futures for December fell 0.74% to US$6.5625 a pound.

Brent crude futures were at US$105.73 a barrel, down 0.31%. West Texas Intermediate, the US oil benchmark, was at US$96.12 a barrel for November delivery, up 1.08%. The ABC reported that the International Energy Agency agreed on Thursday to release more than 20 million barrels of diesel to ease prices.

Iron ore was at US$89.95 a tonne, down 0.6%, in the ABC News market snapshot (prices at about 7:00am AEDT).

Today's diary

All times AEDT.

No Australian Bureau of Statistics releases are scheduled today (ABS release calendar).
11:30pm. US import and export prices for September (Trading Economics calendar).
12:15am Saturday. US industrial production for September (Trading Economics calendar).

Samso Concluding Comments

ASX 200 futures were up 0.97% at about 7:00am AEDT. The Dow rose 1.08% on Thursday and the Nikkei 225 fell 4.90%, with Trading Economics linking the Tokyo fall to doubts over AI spending. The ABC linked the Australian dollar's fall, to approximately 69.2 US cents, to Thursday's 4.7% unemployment figure. No Australian data is due today, so overseas markets and AI-linked shares are the main items on the watch list.

General information only. This is not financial advice.