Japanese and Taiwanese shares have set records as technology companies rallied while investors wagered that US inflation data will be well behaved enough to ensure an interest rate cut next week, and perhaps two more by the year end.

Before then, the European Central Bank is widely expected to hold rates steady later in the day but a fraught trade and political outlook means it will likely keep alive the prospect of further easing.

Meanwhile, oil prices held gains after Poland downed suspected Russian drones in its airspace and as the US pushed the EU to impose new sanctions on buyers of Russian oil. Gold climbed near all-time highs.

Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.8 per cent to hit a record as tech and energy firms as well as utilities jumped. Taiwanese shares rose 1 per cent to also set a record as leading chipmaker TSMC gained 2.5 per cent.

SoftBank rose almost 9 per cent after Stargate Project partner Oracle soared 36 per cent on Wall Street overnight in the biggest one-day percentage gain since 1992 as it forecast a demand surge from AI firms for its cloud computing services.

Nasdaq futures rose 0.2 per cent and S&P 500 futures inched up 0.1 per cent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was off 0.1 per cent due in part to drag from Hong Kong where the Hang Seng index was down 0.9 per cent.

Overnight, a benign reading on US producer prices led markets to price in more chance of three interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year. Investors have fully priced in a quarter-point move from the Fed at next week’s meeting, with an 8 per cent chance of a 50 basis-point cut.

With PPI out of the way, investors are now focused on the consumer prices index for August due out later in the day. A Reuters poll showed the headline CPI likely rose 2.9 per cent from a year earlier, the biggest increase since January, while the core measure likely held at 3.1 per cent.

“Unless CPI delivers a significant upside shock, investors are likely to maintain their dovish outlook,” said Julien Lafargue, chief market strategist at Barclays Private Bank.

“This shift in inflation dynamics could prove pivotal for the US Fed, which now faces fewer constraints in pursuing a more aggressive rate-cutting cycle. With inflation appearing less of a threat, the Fed may find room to stimulate the economy more assertively.”

In foreign exchange, movement was muted with the US dollar struggling for direction. The dollar index was last flat at 97.81, a touch above a seven-week trough of 97.25.

The Australian dollar hit a 10-month top of $0.6636 overnight before steadying at $0.6616 on Thursday.

In the bond market, 10-year Treasury yields edged up 2 basis points to 4.0531 per cent, having fallen 4 bps overnight as a solid 10-year note auction alleviated some concern about investor appetite for long-term US debt.

An even more telling gauge will be the Treasury’s $22 billion sale of 30-year bonds on Thursday. The 30-year yield rose 2 bps to 4.7028 per cent, having come down more than 30 basis points since it briefly topped 5 per cent a week ago.

In commodity markets, oil prices held gains, having settled up over 1 per cent. US crude was flat at $63.65 a barrel, while Brent was little changed at $67.49.

Spot gold prices gained 0.1 per cent to $3,644 an ounce.

Conservative advocates linked with a high-profile influencer shot dead in the US say they’re shaken and in disbelief.

Pro-Trump activist Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck while addressing students at Utah Valley University in Orem, south of Salt Lake City, on Wednesday, US time.

The attack is being described as a “political assassination” by American officials.

The 31-year-old co-founded the right-wing group Turning Point USA in 2012, which sought to influence young Americans and found fame through viral clips on social media.

The head of Turning Point’s Australian outfit Joel Jammal said he was devastated by Mr Kirk’s death and compared him to a martyred prophet.

“Often, prophets are made most powerful when they’ve been martyred, and I think that’s what’s going to happen with Charlie Kirk,” Mr Jammal told AAP.

“I think (the killing) is going to solidify his vision, his movement.

“His vision set down the pathway to show how we can breathe our values into politics.”

Australian leaders have condemned the shooting.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said his thoughts went out to Mr Kirk’s family.

“There is absolutely no place for political violence,” he told ABC TV on Thursday.

“That’s the message that we have to take from this … that is not a way in which to resolve arguments and disputes and discussions in society.”

Liberal senator James Paterson echoed Mr Marles’ comments, noting the attack followed an attempt on US President Donald Trump’s life in 2024. 

“It does seem that there has been an uptick in this sort of violence recently, and that is not a good thing,” he told Sky News. 

“It’s a reminder for all of us in public life to be measured and calm.”

Mr Jammal agreed with the calls.

“There’s a sentiment that we’ve got to turn down the rhetoric,” he said.

In a post on X, former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott said Mr Kirk “championed the pursuit of open debate and intellectual freedom in places of education”.

Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd said he was thinking of Mr Kirk’s family.

“The death of Charlie Kirk today is deeply distressing. There is no space for political violence in any democracy,” he said in a statement on social media.

The gunman is still at large and FBI agents are investigating the killing.

The bureau says it detained a suspect over the shooting but then released them.

“If anyone … celebrated even a little bit at the news of this shooting, I would beg you to look in the mirror and to see if you can find a better angel in there somewhere,” Utah Governor Spencer Cox told reporters.

“I don’t care what his politics are, I care that he was an American.”

Outspoken senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price remains a “valued member” of the coalition despite her sacking from shadow cabinet, the opposition leader says.

The Northern Territory senator was axed from the front bench by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley on Wednesday, after a week of controversy over her comments on Indian migrants.

The sacking came hours after the senator refused to endorse Ms Ley’s leadership at a press conference in Perth, where she also declined to apologise for her migration remarks.

While the senator was booted from the front bench, Ms Ley said she remains a welcome member of the party.

“Jacinta is a valued member of our Liberal Party team in our Liberal Party party room and I know (she) has contributed much in public policy and debate in this country, and will continue to do so,” she told reporters in Hobart on Thursday.

The opposition leader said a decision on the senator’s replacement in the shadow cabinet will be made in due course.

Ms Ley refused to answer questions on whether the NT senator would return to the front bench at a later stage after some Liberal colleagues said it was a matter of time before a comeback.

Senator Nampijinpa Price defected from the Nationals to sit in the Liberal party room shortly after the coalition’s election defeat in May.

Opposition finance spokesman James Paterson said the axing was disappointing, but he was confident his Senate colleague would return to a prominent position within the party.

“It was self-evidently not an edifying week for the Liberal Party and we are concerned about the way in which Indian-Australians heard that discussion and felt about that,” he told Sky News.

“Political careers are not linear any more, they have fits and starts, forward steps and back steps, and I’m confident that Jacinta will be back in a prominent role in the front bench.”

Ms Ley used the press conference to apologise to Australia’s Indian community for the senator’s comments after previously declining to issue a formal apology at a party level.

“I take this opportunity as leader of the Liberal Party to apologise to all Indian-Australians and indeed others who were hurt and distressed by the comments that were made,” she said.

“May I reaffirm my strong support for all our migrant communities, for the values that they bring to this country, for the contribution they make and for choosing to come to Australia.”

Senator Nampijinpa Price said she would continue to speak out on issues such as migration from the back bench on behalf of “millions of Australians”.

“My concern – as it is for millions of Australians – is Labor’s mass migration agenda and its ramifications,” she said in a statement.

“My concern is not migration itself – it’s the magnitude of migration.”

Deputy opposition leader Ted O’Brien said the senator had the freedom to speak out on issues, but her comments had to be dealt with and the party leader made the right decision.

“Jacinta expressed herself authentically with deep regret for what her words had meant to a lot of Indian Australians,” he told ABC TV.

“Of course, as time went on, it was very clear that stronger words were called for.”

Australian leaders have condemned the assassination of a key ally of US President Donald Trump, saying political violence is never acceptable.

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed while speaking at the event at Utah Valley University in Orem, south of Salt Lake City, on Wednesday, US time.

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said his thoughts went out to Mr Kirk’s family.

“There is absolutely no place for political violence,” he told ABC TV on Thursday.

“That’s the message that we have to take from this… that is not a way in which to resolve arguments and disputes and discussions in society.”

Liberal senator James Paterson echoed Mr Marles’ comments, noting that the shooting follows an attempt on US President Donald Trump’s life in 2024.

“It does seem that there has been an uptick in this sort of violence recently, and that is not a good thing,” he told Sky News.

“It’s not a good thing for the United States.

“It’s not a good thing for a country like Australia, for whom the United States is such an important ally.

“It’s a reminder for all of us in public life to be measured and calm.”

In a post on X, former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott said Mr Kirk “championed the pursuit of open debate and intellectual freedom in places of education.”

US President Donald Trump confirmed Mr Kirk’s death, saying in a post on his platform Truth Social, “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.”

Utah law enforcement officials have taken a “person of interest” into custody and believe the shooting was a targeted attack.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox described it as a “political assassination.”

“If anyone … celebrated even a little bit at the news of this shooting, I would beg you to look in the mirror and to see if you can find a better angel in there somewhere,” he told reporters.

“I don’t care what his politics are, I care that he was an American.”

Firebrand senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price will continue to speak out on migration from the backbench after being dumped from the coalition’s shadow cabinet.

The Northern Territory senator was axed from the frontbench by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley on Wednesday after a week of controversy around her comments on Indian migrants.

The frontbench sacking came hours after the senator refused to endorse Ms Ley’s leadership at a press conference in Perth, where she also declined to apologise for her migration remarks.

“Although I will be returning to the backbench, I will continue to speak up on issues which are in the national interest and that are important to millions of Australians,” Senator Nampijinpa Price said in a statement.

“My concern – as it is for millions of Australians – is Labor’s mass migration agenda and its ramifications. 

“My concern is not migration itself – it’s the magnitude of migration.”

Ms Ley said the senator’s refusal to endorse her as leader had made her position in the shadow ministry untenable.

Opposition finance spokesman James Paterson said the axing was disappointing, but was confident his Senate colleague would return to a prominent position within the Liberal party.

“It was self-evidently not an edifying week for the Liberal Party and we are concerned about the way in which Indian Australians heard that discussion and felt about that,” he told Sky News on Thursday.

“Political careers are not linear any more, they have fits and starts, forward steps and back steps, and I’m confident that Jacinta will be back in a prominent role in the front bench.”

Deputy opposition leader Ted O’Brien said while Senator Nampijinpa Price had the freedom to speak out on issues, her comments had to be dealt with and Ms Ley made the right decision.

“Jacinta expressed herself authentically with deep regret for what her words had meant to a lot of Indian Australians,” he told ABC TV.

“Of course, as time went on, it was very clear that stronger words were called for. 

“Ultimately, a decision has been made by our leader, Susan Ley, it is the right decision.

“Words can sometimes be positive and help someone out, or words can hurt, and I think we all have to be mindful, no matter what we do in life, to try to choose our words as best as we can.”

Ms Ley said she would still warmly welcome the presence of Senator Nampijinpa Price, who held the shadow defence industry and personnel role, in the party.

“Her membership of the Liberal Party is something we continue to welcome and support,” she said.

The NT senator had defected from the Nationals to sit in the Liberal party room, shortly after the coalition’s election defeat in May.

Senior Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said the onus should have been on Senator Nampijinpa Price to step aside if she didn’t have confidence in her leader.

“Australians would all agree that this went on for too long,” she told Nine’s Today show.

“Senator Nampijinpa Price obviously united the country against Labor’s divisive voice referendum a couple of years ago. 

“But the reality is in our system of government – whether you’re in the Labor Party, the Liberal Party or the National Party – you’ve got to have confidence in your leader and if you don’t, the responsibility and onus is on you to resign.”

Senator McKenzie said the coalition leadership team of Ms Ley and Nationals Leader David Littleproud was “strong”.

With a climate resilience fund and a high-level agreement on regional peace in the bag, Pacific leaders will finish up multi-day talks at a private retreat.

The typical bookend to the Pacific Island Forum in Solomon Islands will be held in Munda, an idyllic tropical location more than an hours-long flight from Honiara.

Leaders were locked in talks for all of Wednesday, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a late arrival to the summit after a stop in Vanuatu.

The side trip proved a fizzer for the Nakamal agreement security deal, which is yet to be finalised, though Australia did progress talks with Fiji to “upgrade” the relationship and begin negotiations on a new bilateral security treaty.

The official ratification of the Pacific Resilience Facility treaty was a hard-fought win for advocates who have spent 10 years trying to get the regional climate fund off the ground.

Australia has already funnelled $100 million into the fund, which was set up to make it easier for Pacific communities vulnerable to sea level rise, cyclones and other climate impacts to access small sums of money for adaptation programs.

Leaders also threw their support behind the Australia-Pacific attempt to co-host global climate talks, keeping pressure on a competing bid from Turkey.

Mr Albanese said he and his counterparts were determined to bring the 2026 Conference of Parties summit to the climate-vulnerable region.

“Countries like Tuvalu and Kiribati, their very existence is threatened by climate change,” he said.

“And it’s appropriate, given particularly the context of where the last few COPs have been held, that it be held in our region.”

The case for a 100 per cent renewables-powered Pacific was also posited at a side event featuring Vanuatu’s Climate Change Adaptation Minister Ralph Regenvanu and Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo, and first instigated by Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr.

Pacific leaders also endorsed the Ocean of Peace, a Fiji-led declaration that reaffirms regional solidarity for peace and security.

It’s getting harder and harder for first home buyers to get a foot in the door of the housing market, as the remaining “affordable” properties left grow in price faster than the rest.

Affordability constraints are driving buyers towards cheaper homes, resulting in dwindling options for younger Australians, a report released by online property marketplace Domain on Thursday found.

The effect was being borne out across most major cities.

Since 2022, the cheapest quartile of homes in Sydney has grown 4.1 percentage points faster than the top quartile.

The difference was 6.9 percentage points in Melbourne, 13.6 percentage points in Brisbane and 19.8 percentage points in Perth.

The phenomenon has exacerbated already falling home ownership rates among young Australians.

More than 68 per cent of the population born between 1947-51 owned a home by the time they were 30-34, but today only half of Australians in that cohort own a home.

Domain chief economist Nicola Powell says government policies that boost demand for homes, excess construction regulation and stamp duties were exacerbating the problem by pushing up prices further.

Governments should consider replacing stamp duty, which has risen three times faster than income since 2000, with a broad-based land tax, Ms Powell said.

“You’ll be hard pressed to find an economist that doesn’t think that stamp duty is a terrible tax,” she told AAP. 

“It’s so inefficient.”

Because it adds to the upfront cost of a property transaction, stamp duty acts as a disincentive for people to buy and sell homes, even when their current home is the wrong size for their needs or in an inconvenient location.

“One of the things with our housing market is we have a big misallocation of housing, which means that we are not using our current housing stock efficiently,” Ms Powell said.

“By removing stamp duty, what it should do is encourage right-sizing of our homes.”

For people trying to get on the property ladder, stamp duty means there are fewer smaller, entry-level homes.

And for young couples planning on starting a family later in life, it encourages them to look for a home larger than their current needs to avoid transaction costs down the track.

So if the economic consensus is behind getting rid of stamp duty, why is it still entrenched in nearly every state and territory?

The issue is state governments are so heavily reliant on stamp duty and ditching it would leave a massive hole in their budgets until more efficient land taxes contributed enough revenue to make up the difference.

Ms Powell said it would be politically unpalatable to bring in land taxes without grandfathering home owners who recently paid stamp duty on a new home.

It would mean essentially “double-dipping” them in tax.

“I think if we were going to see a broad-based stamp duty reform, it needs to have federal support” to bridge revenue gap for states, she said.

Productivity Commission modelling singled out stamp duties as “exceptionally economically damaging taxes”, chair Danielle Wood told the National Press Club in August.

She noted there were “thorny transition issues” around moving to land taxes but did not have a position on whether the Commonwealth had a role to play in incentivising the states to get rid of stamp duty.

A Liberal senator who refused to apologise for controversial comments about Indian migration has been booted from the shadow ministry. 

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price spoke to Liberal leader Sussan Ley on Wednesday evening and was asked to step down from the coalition frontbench.

“I have accepted the leader’s decision,” Senator Nampijinpa Price said in a statement.

Despite a growing chorus of calls for her to say sorry for remarks claiming the Labor government was bringing in more Indian migrants to bolster its vote, the outspoken senator said she would continue to speak out on migration.

Ms Ley said serving in the shadow ministry was a privilege and shadow ministers were expected to uphold certain standards.

“Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has failed to do so and will no longer serve in my shadow ministry,” Ms Ley said.

“Despite being given sufficient time and space to do so, Senator Nampijinpa Price failed to apologise for remarks which have caused Australians of Indian heritage significant hurt.”

Senator Nampijinpa Price’s refusal to provide confidence in her leadership made the position untenable, Ms Ley said.

The Northern Territory senator expressed her disappointment to Ms Ley about colleagues disregarding the key point she had made about mass migration and instead chose to “indulge agenda-driven media commentary”.

“Although I will be returning to the backbench, I will continue to speak up on issues which are in the national interest and that are important to millions of Australians,” she vowed.

Senator Nampijinpa Price earlier claimed she had received “overwhelming” community support.

“My comments were certainly clumsy. Unfortunately, the issue that’s of great concern, which I won’t be silenced on, is the issue of mass migration in our country,” she told reporters in Perth.

Senior members of the coalition urged Senator Nampijinpa Price to apologise for the comments, with the NSW Liberals saying sorry on her behalf.

But the senator called for the coalition to continue to hold the government to account on migration numbers.

“My husband is a migrant, this is the Australian story,” she said.

“I am a woman of mixed heritage myself, but this is ultimately the Australian story, and one that needs to be celebrated.”

Ms Ley previously declined to apologise on behalf of the coalition for Senator Nampijinpa Price’s comments, instead saying the remarks should not have been made.

Nationals leader David Littleproud said Senator Nampijinpa Price should admit her mistakes and get on with holding the government to account.

“In politics, we often get things wrong, what you’ve got to do is acknowledge it, say sorry, move on and focus on what we’re there to do,” he said.

Liberal senator Jane Hume said it was disappointing the coalition had to spend time being divided over the comments.

“It’s been poorly handled, and it should be now on all of us, beholden on all of us to bring it back to an internal issue, rather than something that gets played out in the media,” she said.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed Indian officials raised concerns with the federal government following rhetoric at anti-immigration protests where members of the Indian community were singled out.

“We’ve communicated with them, not at my level, but at official level, and they’ve seen the very important responses from the government,” she said.

Senator Wong emphasised the views shared at the anti-immigration protests did not reflect the broader community.

“Those protests didn’t represent Australia. I don’t think Australian values are values of division,” she said.

Australia must slash red tape and open up mobile spectrum to meet the needs of the AI revolution, the head of the nation’s biggest telco warns.

Building digital infrastructure will be essential to supporting the rollout of artificial intelligence, Telstra boss Vicki Brady told the National Press Club in Canberra. 

But the telecommunications sector was being hampered by more than 500 pieces of legislation and regulation, she said on Wednesday.

Backing Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ push to remove unnecessary red tape and lift productivity, Ms Brady urged the government to keep cutting away clutter and develop a national digital infrastructure plan.

Telcos had helped drive the internet boom by placing big bets on capital-intensive digital infrastructure in the expectation it would deliver strong financial returns.

That included flying helicopters across the continent to ferry the materials and personnel required to build 3G towers and make mobile internet connectivity possible.

But as the industry embarked on the next phase of the infrastructure build, such as connecting Australia’s far-flung cities with a web of fibre cables, regulation was making it harder to finance new projects.

To roll out 1000km of fibre between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, Telstra had to fulfil more than 6000 regulatory requirements, including land access activity notices, construction certificates and cultural heritage and environment surveys.

“This is all part of deploying infrastructure in a country as large as Australia and there are good reasons why these processes are in place,” Ms Brady said.

“But the volume of legislation, regulation and different requirements across states and territories has added significant cost and complexity.”

She supports the Business Council of Australia’s calls to reduce business compliance costs by a quarter by 2030.

“This would mean looking at what regulation may no longer be needed – like our obligation to publish and distribute paper copies of the White Pages.”

Not only did Australia need to get cables in the ground faster, it also needed to build out the “connectivity super highway in the air”, Ms Brady said.

That meant opening access to new bands of mobile spectrum to improve coverage in the bush and enable the roll-out of 6G technology.

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association backed the Telstra boss’s call for the government to provide certainty that telcos would have continued access to spectrum.

“Freeing up spectrum and reducing red tape for longer licences will encourage long-term infrastructure investment,” head of spectrum and network infrastructure Chris Coughlan said.

“This will in turn deliver better coverage in regional areas, reduce congestion, and give the necessary access to deliver 6G tech and satellite-to-mobile voice and data services.”

Australia risked becoming commercially uncompetitive as countries such as the US rolled out digital infrastructure faster and at greater scale, Ms Brady said.

AI had the potential to almost double productivity growth over the next decade, but Australia needed to involve the public to build trust in the technology, she said.

Telstra cut 2800 jobs in the past financial year and plans to shed 550 more as part of a major restructure to its Telstra Enterprise arm, but it denied the changes were a result of adoption of AI.

Ms Brady said it was uncertain what impact AI would have on employment but “come 2030, I would expect Telstra’s workforce to be smaller than it is today”.

Anthony Albanese has backed calls for a de-escalation of violence in the Middle East following Israel’s attack in Qatar.

Israel struck the capital Doha on Tuesday targeting the leadership of Hamas, which Australia designates a terror group, and said five of the group’s members were killed.

The strike has sparked widespread criticism from allies including the US and the UK.

Qatar has helped mediate peace talks between Israel and Hamas during the war in Gaza and condemned the attack as a “criminal assault” and “blatant violation of all international laws and norms”.

Speaking from Honiara, the prime minister pointed to the US position of Qatar’s sovereignty being violated.

“It risks the ceasefire,” Mr Albanese said on Wednesday.

“I want to see peace in that region, I don’t want to see an escalation.”

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles reaffirmed Australia’s view of Israel’s strikes.

“They risk a ceasefire in Gaza, they do not help in terms of a return of the hostages and they also risk an escalation in what’s occurring in the Middle East,” he told reporters in Sydney.

“For all those reasons, we are deeply concerned about Israel’s strikes on Qatar.”

Israel has taken full responsibility for the attack, but the strike has angered many of its international allies.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Qatar had been playing a crucial role in the region.

“We don’t think it was the right thing to do,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program.

“They’ve been tireless in those negotiations, that’s the context in which this strike has occurred.”

US President Donald Trump said the strike “does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” while UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned Israel’s actions.

Qatari leaders have said they remain committed to brokering a ceasefire agreement despite the attacks.

Australia was not given any specific information by Israel about the attacks before they took place, while the US was given a heads-up.

Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said the strike targeted the most senior Hamas leadership who were “directly responsible for the brutal October 7 massacre”.

“It should also be remembered that Qatar itself is far from an innocent bystander or neutral ‘mediator’,” he said.

“They are one of Hamas’ most important allies, hosting its leadership in lavish style, supplying the terror groups with funds.”

Israel’s action demonstrated its government was not serious about having hostages returned, Greens foreign affairs spokesman David Shoebridge said.

“This latest gross breach of international law proves Israel does not want a negotiated ceasefire and that the US will continue to enable their lawless violence,” he said.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, invaded Israel’s south in October 2023 and killed more than 1200 Israelis while taking about 250 more hostage, with some still being held.

Almost 63,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israel’s military response and many more face starvation in the war zone.