Flat ASX opening; ahead of US & Japan rate decisions

Market Reports

by David Chau

The Australian share market will open flat this morning – and hopefully it opens on time.  Yesterday was an embarrassing day for the ASX as technical issues caused it to open 1.5 hous late, and close almost 2 hours early.  Naturally, not much share trading occurred under those conditions.  The ASX said it would fix these issues by the time the market opens today.

Also, the local share market won’t be getting a strong lead Wall Street, as it finished mostly flat yesterday.  Investors are waiting to see what happens this week as two major central banks world will be making interest rate decisions.  It’s expected that the US Federal Reserve won’t be raising interest rates.  However, it is expected that the Bank of Japan may cut interest rates even deeper into negative territory.

US economic news

It’s looking positive for the construction industry. Builder confidence for newly built, single-family homes in September jumped six points to a reading of 65. Any reading above 50 means more builders view market conditions as good, rather than bad.  This month's result is its highest level since October 2015.

Markets

Wall Street closed mostly flat overnight: The Dow Jones was flat and closed at 18,120, the S&P 500 was flat at 2,139 and the NASDAQ lost 0.2 per cent to close at 5,235.

European markets finished higher: London’s FTSE gained 1.5 per cent, Paris added 1.4 per cent and Frankfurt was up almost 1 per cent.

Asian markets were also higher: the Nikkei was closed due its “Respect for the Aged” public holiday in Japan, the Hang Seng gained 0.9 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite rose by 0.8 per cent.

The Australian share market closed flat yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 2 points down to finish at 5295. On the futures market, the SPI is down 5 points.

Currencies

The Australian Dollar at 7:20AM is buying $US75.37 cents, 57.86 Pence, 76.82 Yen and 67.46 Euro cents.

Local economic news

Later today, the Reserve Bank will release minutes from its September board meeting, detailing why they kept interest rates on hold at 1.5%.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release Housing Price Index figures for the second quarter of this year.  These figures will reveal how much residential prices have changed in Australian capital cities over the last quarter.

Company news

Oil and gas company, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) has appointed a new CFO, Anthony Neilson to replace its retiring CFO, Andrew Seaton. Mr Neilson will start his new role in December. Shares in Santos closed 3.16% higher and closed at $3.59.

Australian Grains Champion, which is backed by GrainCorp (ASX:GNC), has withdrawn its proposal to corporatize the CBH Group -- Australia's largest exporter of grain. The deal, if it went ahead, would be worth $300 million. Shares in Graincorp closed 0.06 per cent lower at $7.99.

Ex-dividends

Four companies are going ex-dividend today, and will pay the following dividend amounts: Cleanaway Waste (0.9 cents), 1300 Smiles (11.5 cents), Sigma Pharmaceutical (2.5 cents), and Swick Mining (0.5 cents).

Those dividends are all fully-franked.

Commodities

Gold has gained $6.20 to $US1,316 an ounce.
Silver has gained $0.36 to $19.22.
Copper has lost 1 cent to $2.15 a pound.
Oil is up 15 cents to $US43.77 a barrel.

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