Updated August 28, 2026 — 11:06am,first published August 28, 2026 — 5:16am
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The Australian sharemarket has advanced at the open after a solid night on Wall Street, with stocks jumping as Nvidia, Salesforce and others reported fatter profits than expected.
The S&P/ASX 200 was up 19.5 points or 0.2 per cent to 9057.7 in early trade. The ASX lost 1 per cent on Thursday. The Australian dollar was stronger at US71.95¢.
Reporting season is drawing to a close and Virgin Australia surged by 9.5 per cent in early trade as it reported robust results, with underlying pre-tax earnings surging by more than 13 per cent to $753 million. Virgin will pay a dividend of 7.6¢ a share.
Harvey Norman dipped 1.3 per cent in late morning trading despite revealing a 3.1 per cent uplift in revenue to $9.4 billion and a 10.9 per cent increase in profit before tax (excluding the effects of AASB 16 Leases, net property revaluations and a pecuniary penalty) to $654.7 million in its full-year results.
Nvidia’s strong results pushed Wall Street’s Nasdaq higher overnight, and the positive sentiment flowed through to local technology stocks, with Xero jumping 5.9 per cent, WiseTech and Technology One each up 3.5 per cent and NEXTDC 3 per cent higher.
Mining stocks are mixed with Fortescue up 0.4 per cent, BHP flat and Rio Tinto shedding 1 per cent in early trade. Gold stocks advanced with the price of the precious metal steady near $US4600 an ounce as investors weighed the outlook for US interest rates ahead of a key speech by Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh.
Financial stocks are steady with National Australia Bank up 0.1 per cent, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank down 0.1 per cent and ANZ Bank 0.3 per cent lower.
Energy stocks are higher with oil prices advancing overnight before steadying in early Asian trade. Woodside and Santos added 1.1 per cent each while refiner Ampol rose 0.9 per cent.
Overnight, the S&P 500 rose 0.7 per cent and pulled closer to its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones added 105 points, or 0.2 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.6 per cent.
On Wall Street, Nvidia was the strongest force pulling the market higher, and the chip giant rallied 8.7 per cent after once again delivering stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. More importantly for Wall Street, it also gave forecasts for coming revenue growth that topped analysts’ estimates, suggesting demand remains strong for chips to power artificial-intelligence projects.
“AI has reached its inflection point,” Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said. “It’s doing useful work. Its tokens are productive and profitable.”
That helped calm some of the worries that have built around AI stocks generally, which have been under pressure recently. After rocketing higher for years because of the frenzy around AI, stocks in the industry are confronting scepticism that they shot too high and that booming demand for AI chips may fade if the AI revolution does not produce as much profit as promised.
Another big tech company, Salesforce, jumped 22.6 per cent after it said that AI helped it deliver one of its best quarters in history. It reported stronger profit than analysts expected, and chief executive Marc Benioff said it’s “seeing incredible demand for our AI and data products” and that it’s “turning AI into customer success at unprecedented scale”.
