James Gruber

Some crazy statistics to finish the week, Gil.

More signs an Iran peace deal may be close.

That sent stocks soaring and oil plunging.

And what's happened to Berkshire Hathaway one year after Warren Buffett retired?

Hello, good morning.

I'm James Gruber.

It's Thursday, the 7th of May, and this is the morning edition of the ComSec Market Update.

Well, there are more signals now that an Iran peace deal may not be far away.

Tehran is reported to be weighing up a US proposal to end the war that would restart shipping through the Strait of Hormuz but push detailed nuclear negotiations into the future.

That news sent oil prices tumbling and stocks soaring.

Markets turned their attention again to company earnings out of the US, and they liked what they saw, with the major indices hitting fresh record highs.

Let's take a deeper look at what's happened with Aussie futures, commodities and currencies.

The ASX is poised to open higher, with index futures up 1.2%.

Speaking of the ASX 200, yesterday it closed up 1.3% to $8,794.

The market snapped a two-session slide, lifted by banks and miners on signs of progress in Iran.

Today should be another positive day for the index, with tech shares likely to gain on advances on the Nasdaq, while energy stocks may be hit hard again given lower crude prices.

On commodity markets and those oil prices, they fell sharply to two-week lows on Wednesday as optimism grew about a possible end to the war in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures settled almost 8% lower to just above US$101 a barrel.

Base metal prices were mixed on Wednesday.

Copper futures soared 3.3% on peace deal optimism, while aluminium futures declined 1.2% as a possible Iran deal eased supply fears.