ASX Market Open: Spluttering Oz shares not doing much of anything pre-holidays | Dec 16

Market Overview - Australian shares are flat, with the ASX shaving less than five points at the open, indicating a lackluster close for CY25 [1] - The ASX 200 is following Wall Street lower, with the Nasdaq down -0.5% [2] IPO Performance - Recent IPOs such as Saluda Medical (ASX:SLD), Epiminder (ASX:EPI), and Carma (ASX:CMA) have seen significant declines, dropping as much as -20% since their debut [4] - Upcoming IPOs include Advance Energy Minerals and Equus Energy scheduled for Thursday, and Channel Infrastructure, Trade Window Holdings, and Unity Metals lined up for Friday [5] Company News - Venari Minerals (ASX:VMS) announced the discovery of the "highest-grade lithium intersection to date" at its Red Mountain project in Nevada [5] - Predictive Discovery (ASX:PDI) confirmed a new bid from Robex Resources (ASX:RXR), making Perseus Mining's (ASX:PRU) mid-December bid "no longer superior" [6] - Orica (ASX:ORI) is holding its AGM today [6] Commodity Prices - The Australian dollar is trading at 66.4 U.S. cents [7] - Iron Ore prices retreated -0.5% to $101.45 per tonne, Brent Crude dropped -1.2% to $60.37 per barrel, Gold is at $4,309 per ounce, and US natgas futures fell -2.5% to $4.01 per gigajoule [7]