Outlook: Aus shares to edge higher this morning

It looks like the Australian share market looks might edge higher this morning as it takes a positive lead from the US.

Wall Street finished higher yesterday, with the strongest gains made by the Healthcare and Technology sectors, and Telcos contributing the most losses.

US economic news

The Fed has released the minutes from its June meeting, which happened before the UK had its Brexit vote. The Fed said that it was best to wait for more economic data before any making any interest rate hikes. The Fed also said that a slowdown in job hiring was one reason to keep interest rates steady.

Also in the US, the Purchasing Managers Index rose to 56.5 in June. In May, the index was at 53.3. This is positive economic data as a reading above 50 means the non-manufacturing sector is expanding.

Markets

Wall Street closed higher on Wednesday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4 per cent to close at 17,919, the S&P 500 gained 0.5 per cent to close at 2,100 and the NASDAQ gained 0.8 per cent to close at 4,859.

European markets finished lower: London’s FTSE was down 1.3 per cent, Paris was down 1.9 per cent and Frankfurt was down 1.7 per cent.

Asian markets closed mixed: The Nikkei lost 1.9 per cent, the Hang Seng lost 1.2 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite was up 0.4 per cent.

The Australian share market closed lower yesterday: The ASX 200 closed 31 points down to finish at 5,198. On the futures market the SPI is up 35 points.

Currencies

The Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying $US75.23 cents, 58.18 Pence Sterling, 76.25 Yen and 67.77 Euro cents.

Economic news

Later today, the Australian Industry Group will release its June figures for the Performance of Construction Index, which is a gauge on the state of business conditions in the construction industry.

Company news

Urbanise.com Limited (ASX:UBN) has signed a deal with the Prudential Investment Company of Australia Pty Ltd (PICA). PICA will use Urbanise’s cloud-based platform to help manage its property portfolio. Urbanise says that this deal will result in revenue of $16 million over the next 10 years.

Shares in Urbanise closed 6.25% higher at 51 cents.

Burey Gold Ltd (ASX:BYR) has raised $11.6 million from a share placement, which it says was oversubscribed. The mining company will use this money to advance exploration of its Giro Gold Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Shares in Burey Gold closed 10.94 per cent higher at 7.1 cents.

Ex-dividends

Metro Performance Glass will pay a dividend of 3.73 cents, unfranked.

Commodities

Gold has risen $8.40 to $US1,367 an ounce for the August contract on Comex.
Silver has gained $0.30 to $20.20 for September.
Copper is down 3 cents at $2.15 a pound for September.
Oil is up $0.83 to $47.43 USD per barrel for August light crude in New York.