Wall Street shares closed mixed yesterday. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at their highest levels of the year so far, while the Nasdaq closed lower due to the fall in share prices of tech companies, Netflix, Amazon.com, Apple and Tesla.
Following this mixed, but overall positive US lead, the Australian share market looks set to open higher this morning.
US economic news
The number of new homes being built in the US has fallen more than expected in March, as residential starts fell 8.8% to its lowest level since October 2015.
To the figures: Wall Street closed mixed yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3 per cent to close at 18,054, the S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to close at 2,101 and the NASDAQ was down 0.4 per cent to close at 4,940.
European markets closed higher: London’s FTSE was up 0.8 per cent, Paris was up 1.3 per cent and Frankfurt rose by 2.3 per cent.
Asian markets closed higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei was up by 3.7 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.3 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.3 per cent.
The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 52 points up to finish at 5,189. On the futures market, the SPI is up 31 points.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying $US0.7814 cents, 54.32 Pence Sterling, 85.37 Yen and 68.80 Euro cents.
Company news
Carnegie Wave Energy Limited
(ASX:CWE) has entered into an Investment and Alliance Agreement with EMC Solar Consturction and EMC Engineering (EMC).
The renewable energy company says that this Agreement means it can now start working with EMC to deliver its patented CETO wave energy technology as part of an integrated microgrid solution.
Shares in Carnegie are currently in a trading halt, and last traded at $0.04.
Prime Media Group
(ASX:PRT) has announced that its total advertising revenue in northern NSW, southern NSW and Victoria has dropped 7.4% for the financial year to 31 March, compared to the market decline of 6.8%.
CEO, Ian Audsley, said the result is, “disappointing, particularly in an Olympic year”, however the company expects to “maintain its lead market revenue share in the three aggregated markets on the back of a number of Olympic-related marketing initiatives”.
Shares in Prime Media closed steady yesterday at $0.335 per share.
Ex-dividends
One company is going ex-dividend today – Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd will pay $0.21 per share, fully franked.
Commodities
Gold has gained $16.80 to $US1,252 an ounce for the June contract on Comex.
Silver has gained $0.70 to $16.95 for May.
Copper has gained $0.06 to $2.23 a pound.
Oil has gained $1.23 to $US42.42 a barrel for May light crude in New York.
