Following a Thursday that ranked as the best ASX trading day in six weeks, Australian shares are now being tipped to sag 0.07% lower, to around 7,911 points, as global investors hesitate on buying ahead of Week 12’s last hours.

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As always, it’s the U.S. leading the way – Wall Street saw a volatile day through its own Thursday after a Federal Reserve-led bounce just 24 hours earlier.

The S&P 500 flip-flopped, heading up and down before settling at a 0.2% loss.

Similar story in the U.K. – the Bank of England held its rate steady and the FTSE lost 0.1%.

Back home, the ACCC has declared both Coles (ASX:COL) and Woolworths (ASX:WOW) are among “the world’s most profitable supermarkets” – but at the same time, conceded little could be done regarding their Aussie dominance.

It’s a major win for the ASX-listed supermarkets, with the ACCC unable to prove its allegations of price gouging; the cost-of-living crisis also couldn’t be blamed on them.

BHP (ASX:BHP) has a brewing Hunter Valley fight on its hands too, with politicians and unions demanding the juggernaut Aussie miner rethink plans that would see Mount Arthur permanently shuttered by late 2030.

Patronus Resources (ASX:PTN) has scooped up a chunk of Emmerson Resources (ASX:ERM) today too, acquiring 7.73% at 11c per ERM share; around $5.4 million, all up.

One HotCopper forum users are already watching – Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) has seen its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia impacted by “unseasonal rains,” leading to a temporary work suspension amid troubles accessing the site.

Elsewhere, Nine Entertainment (ASX:NEC) has started talks with U.S. real estate giant CoStar, which is looking to buy a controlling stake in Domain this year.

Premier Investments (ASX:PMV) will be sharing its half-year results today too.

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Looking at forex, the Aussie dollar is buying 63 US cents.

To commodities, which are in the greenback,

Iron Ore is still hovering around $100.45 a tonne in Singapore,

Brent Crude is trading at $72.26,

Gold has held its lofty ATH at $3,062 per ounce, and, 

US natgas futures are at $3.96 per gigajoule.

That’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre, stick with us for HotCopper’s Market Update.