The Australian share market will open higher this morning, thanks to positive leads from Wall Street.
US equities reached new all-time highs yesterday as the post-election rally continued. The rally in American stocks has been boosted by optimism over President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to introduce tax cuts and de-regulate certain sectors – with the main beneficiaries being healthcare and banks. At this stage, it’s extremely likely that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month.
Unlike the day before, oil prices have fallen overnight – given there is concern that Iraq and Iran are not yet ready to agree on freezing output, and containing the global oversupply of oil at the next OPEC meeting later this month.
US economic newsThe sale of existing homes went up by 2% last month. This is its highest annual rate of growth in 9.5 years, and certainly good news for the American economy.
MarketsWall Street finished higher overnight: The Dow Jones added 0.4% to close at a new all-time high of 19,024, the S&P 500 is up 0.2 per cent at 2,203 (which again, is a new record) and the NASDAQ gained 0.3 per cent at 5,386.
European markets finished higher: London’s FTSE rose 0.6%, Paris was up 0.4%, and Frankfurt added 0.3%.
Asian markets were higher: the Nikkei has risen 0.3%, the Hang Seng was up 1.4%, and the Shanghai Composite added 0.9%.
The Australian share market performed strongly yesterday: The ASX 200 finished 62 points higher to finish at 5,413. This morning, on the futures market the SPI has risen 9 points.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar after 8.00am was buying $US74.04, 59.61 Pence, 82.22 Yen and 69.67 Euro cents.
Local economic newsToday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release its figures for the value of construction work which done around the country during the September quarter.
Company newsNetComm Wireless
(ASX:NTC) has signed a contract with NBN Co to supply Distribution Point Units (DPUs) and related services, as part of the roll-out of Australia’s national broadband network. NetComm’s supply will likely begin in the 2018 financial year. While no specific unit volumes were mentioned in the contract, NetComm expects this deal to have a “material impact” on its revenue in the next few years. Shares in Netcomm closed 0.45% higher at $2.21.
FIT Ruums, which is a subsidiary of Webjet Ltd
(ASX:WEB), has entered a partnership with Dida Travel Technology, the largest travel aggregator in China. Webjet’s subsidiary is a newly-launched business-to-business online accommodation distributor in the Asian market. This partnership will involve the content sharing of at least 13,000 properties and business development, and is expected to boost sales revenue. Shares in Webjet closed 0.42% higher at $9.55.
CommoditiesGold is up $2.10 to $US1,212 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver has gained $0.11 to $16.73 for December.
Copper has risen by $0.02 to $2.55 a pound for December.
Oil has lost $0.35 to $47.89 per barrel for January light crude in New York.
