Good afternoon and welcome to Markets Desk.
Australian equities are under modest pressure in midday trade, with the S&P ASX two hundred slipping below the eight thousand seven hundred fifty mark. The selling extends Thursday's losses, with technology shares leading the decline following mixed signals out of Wall Street overnight. Nothing dramatic, but the tone remains cautious.
Shifting to soft commodities, cocoa is making a serious move. September ICE New York futures surged more than five and a half percent Thursday, hitting five and a half month highs, as traders grow increasingly anxious about the upcoming West African harvest. Heavy weather concerns in the region are tightening the supply outlook, and this two week rally shows no clear sign of exhausting itself just yet.
And in biotech, several names are drawing attention today. Bio-Techne is moving sharply higher after acquisition news, while Kymera Therapeutics hit a fresh high following a revised clinical readout timeline that the market is clearly interpreting as favorable. Satellos Bioscience is also on watch ahead of new muscular dystrophy data expected next month. Across the board, catalyst-driven names are outperforming the broader tape.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
