Following yesterday’s steep 1.9 per cent drop the Australian share market looks set to continue falling today. Wall Street traded and ended in the red after US growth data disappointed and the Federal Reserve provided vague guidance on future rate movements. America’s economic growth was shown to have expanded at an annual pace of 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of the year after growing by 2.2 per cent in the prior quarter. On the company front results and updates are due from Ten Network Holdings Limited
(ASX:TEN), Origin Energy Limited
(ASX:ORG), Paladin Energy Limited
(ASX:PDN) and Mirvac Group
(ASX:MGR).
Global markets
Wall Street retreated on Wednesday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.4 per cent to close at 18,036, the S&P 500 pulled back 0.4 per cent to close at 2,107 and the Nasdaq lost 0.6 per cent to close at 5,024.
European markets moved lower on Wednesday: London's FTSE 100 declined 1.2 per cent, France's CAC 40 sank 2.6 per cent and Germany's DAX plunged 3.2 per cent.
Asian markets ended mixed on Wednesday: Japan’s Nikkei firmed 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.2 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.01 per cent.
The Australian share market sank to session lows yesterday ahead of the Fed’s policy statement and US growth figures: The S&P/ASX 200 index retreated 110 points to close at 5,839. On the futures market the SPI is 44 points lower.
Currencies
The Australian dollar at 7:30am was buying $US0.7989, 51.79 Pence Sterling, 95.15 Yen and 71.87 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today
Australian Bureau of Statistics: Private sector credit data for March
Reserve Bank of Australia: Financial Aggregates report for March
Company news
Telstra Corporation Limited
(ASX:TLS) has launched its second startup accelerator in Singapore following the launch of its first in Sydney in 2013. Australia’s largest telco will provide seed funding, work space, mentoring, coaching and Telstra access. The move is aiming to attract the region’s best digital talent, foster local technology innovation and grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem across Southeast Asia. Shares in Telstra Corporation eased 0.78 per cent to close at $6.32 on Wednesday following the announcement.
Yellow Brick Road Holdings Limited
(ASX:YBR) says its mortgage aggregator Vow Financial is poised to be the third largest mortgage aggregator in Australia. The financial services company reports Vow has recorded 56 per cent growth in settlements compared to the market growth over the current financial year to date. Chairman Mark Bouris says since acquiring the group last year loan writers have risen by 20 per cent and significant product offering improvements have been made. Shares in Yellow Brick Road Holdings ended steady at $0.545 on Wednesday following the announcement.
Commodities
Gold has declined $3.90 to $US1,210 an ounce for the June contract on Comex.
Silver has risen $0.08 to $16.67 for May.
Copper has firmed $0.02 to $2.80 a pound.
Oil has gained $1.52 to $US58.58 a barrel for June light crude in New York.
