Markets Live: ASX on track to close at 10-year high

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11:23am

US President Donald Trump bragged may have bragged about convincing Pfizer to hold off on price increases, but the pharmaceutical giant isn't the only drug company looking to charge more for its products.

In the first 10 days of July, at least 10 other drugmakers and biotechnology companies raised prices on at least 20 brand-name medicines, a review of pricing data from Rx Savings Solutions and Bloomberg Intelligence shows.

The increases, for medications for cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and liver disease, were generally each less than 10 per cent, but the price of one little-prescribed sleep aid was raised by more than 700 per cent.

Read the full story here.

11:04am

Rio Tinto's long-awaited exit from Indonesia's Grasberg copper mine is all but secured, under a $US3.85 billion deal that may add billions of dollars into dividend deliberations when the company's board of directors meets this month.

Rio's partner in the controversial mine, Freeport McMoran, reached a "heads of agreement" with the Indonesian government on Thursday that would see at least 51 per cent ownership of the mine handed to Indonesian state-owned company PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium Persero, which is better known as "Inalum".

A signing ceremony for the heads of agreement took place on Thursday evening Australian time, with Indonesian President Joko Widodo declaring earlier on Thursday that it was "a done deal".

Peter Ker has the full story here.

10:42am

The successful float of fuel giant Viva Energy on Friday – the biggest IPO in nearly four years – will give Australia's investment banking community plenty of heart.

After a few notable IPO misfires this year, including the delayed float of Latitude Financial, the $2.65 billion raise suggests the float window is open for meaty deals.

Viva, which will have a market value of $4.9 billion on listing, wouldn't necessarily have been the easiest sell.

Chanticleer has the full story here.

10:22am

The Australian sharemarket is on track to close the week at a fresh 10-year high following an advance at the open this morning.

The S&P/ASX 200 index is 18.2 points, or 0.3 per cent, higher at 6286.5.

Commonwealth Bank is leading the index with a 0.6 per cent advance, followed by CSL up 0.7 per cent.

Sims Metal Management shares are 4.3 per cent higher, Sandfire Resources is up 3.6 per cent and Afterpay Touch is up 3.1 per cent.

Woodside Petroleum, Orora and Woolworths Group are the only major weights on the index this morning but only wiping less than 2 points from the index combined.

Southern Cross Media is down 1.9 per cent and Bellamy's Australia has fallen down 1.7 per cent.

10:00am

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The Australian sharemarket is set to finish the week strongly, with global markets jumping overnight, writes Kyle Rodda.

There's been a broad-based rally across global markets, as traders and investors recalibrate following yesterday's announcement by US President Donald Trump of further tariffs on Chinese imports into the US. There may be a level of confusion around this dynamic: one day the sky is falling, the next day we are right back to where we were.

It can feel like a little bit of Groundhog Day, where markets are stuck in a cycle of Trump-related stock routs followed by general recoveries. The explanation for this erratic behaviour is large investors willingness to pull funds out of the market when bad news occurs, only to re-enter when strategies are adjusted for the new risks.

Read the full 8@eight here.

9:41am

Here are the overnight market highlights:

SPI futures up 24 points or 0.4% to 6241 at 8am AEST

AUD +0.6% to 74.06 US cents

On Wall St: Dow +0.9% S&P 500 +0.9% Nasdaq +1.4%

In New York, BHP +1.4% Rio +1.3% Atlassian +4.5%

In Europe: Stoxx 50 +0.7% FTSE +0.8% CAC +1% DAX +0.6%

Spot gold +0.4% to $US1247.09 an ounce at 1.44pm New York time

Brent crude +0.8% to $US73.96 a barrel

US oil -0.8% to $US69.82 a barrel

Iron ore +1.1% to $US64.06 a tonne

Dalian iron ore +0.4% to 467 yuan

LME aluminium -0.9% to $US2042 a tonne

LME copper +1.3% to $US6227.50 a tonne

2-year yield: US 2.59% Australia 2.02%

5-year yield: US 2.75% Australia 2.25%

10-year yield: US 2.85% Australia 2.63% Germany 0.35%

9:20am

Andrew Thorburn is frantically drawing on the table.

The National Australia Bank chief executive is a notorious scribbler who loves emphasising a point with a whiteboard marker in hand. As we speak, he covers the glass-topped table in the anteroom outside his office with red squiggles.

Two letters stand out at the centre of these squiggles, lines and circles: BP, which stands for "burning platform". That is how Thorburn describes the banking royal commission, which he admits has become the first topic investors now raise. Is there going to be more regulation? Will costs increase? Will bankers become more risk averse now every aspect of misconduct will be, in Thorburn's words, "elevated and exaggerated"?

But the royal commission is not Thorburn's only burning platform. The NAB boss is also trying to remake the bank in the face of slowing credit growth and has been hit by a multimillion-dollar fraud. Over the past six months NAB shares have performed even worse than those of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, whose money laundering scandal has added to its list of woes.

James Thomson & Patrick Durkin have the full story here.

9:00am

Good morning and welcome to the Markets Live blog for Friday.

Your editor today is William McInnes.

This blog is not intended as investment advice.

Fairfax Media with wires.