The Australian share market will open a little lower this morning, following weak leads from Wall Street.
Late-last week, global markets rallied after US President-Elect, Donald Trump, announced his plans to boost infrastructure spending – which could trigger much-needed inflation in the American economy. However, specific details of Trump’s policies and key appointments to his administration are still uncertain at this stage.
Overnight, the strongest performing sector on Wall Street was Financials, upon expectations that Trump would simplify financial regulations once he assumes office. However, these gains were offset by technology shares – with declines in Facebook, Netflix, Amazon and Alphabet (which is Google’s parent company).
There was also a massive $1.2 trillion sell-off in global bonds last week, which is continuing into this week. 30-year US Treasury yields were above 3% for the first time since January, this year, while the Australian government 10-year bond yield increased to 2.66%, which is an eight-month high.
MarketsWall Street finished mixed overnight: The Dow Jones gained 0.1 per cent to close at 18,869, the S&P 500 is flat at 2,164 and the NASDAQ lost 0.4 per cent at 5,218.
European markets finished higher: London’s FTSE was up 0.3%, Paris gained 0.4%, and Frankfurt lifted 0.2%.
Asian markets were mixed: the Nikkei was up 1.7%, the Hang Seng lost 1.4%, and the Shanghai Composite gained 0.45%.
The Australian share market closed lower yesterday: The ASX 200 closed 25 points lower to finish at 5,346. This morning, on the futures market, the SPI is down 10 points.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying $US75.49, 60.43 Pence, 81.85 Yen and 70.31 Euro cents.
Company newsBega Cheese Ltd
(ASX:BGA) has appointed Paul van Heerwaarden as its new Chief Executive Officer. Mr van Heerwaarden is currently the company’s Chief Operating Officer, and he’ll be replacing Aidan Coleman as CEO from 1 February 2017. Shares in Bega Cheese closed 2.39% lower at $4.50.
Harris Technology Group Ltd
(ASX:HT8) has signed a deal to acquire all the issued share capital in Audion Innovision Pty Ltd, which is an Australian company that distributes audio, video and multimedia accessories. As for what Harris Technology will pay to acquire Audion, that is a little complicated – it will pay $150,000 for intangible assets, plus 95% of Audion’s accounts receivable and the value of Audion’s fixed assets at the calendar month end immediately before the completion date for the transaction. Shares in Harris Technology closed 27.27% higher at 14 cents.
Ex-dividendsOne company is going ex-dividend today. Incitec Pivot
(ASX:IPL), a company which manufactures a range of industrial chemicals, fertilisers and explosives, will pay an unfranked dividend of 4.6 cents per share.
CommoditiesGold has lost $2.30 to $US1,219 an ounce.
Silver is down $0.05 to $16.84.
Copper is flat at $2.52 a pound.
Oil has gained $0.06 to $44.49 per barrel.
