The Australian share market is set to open higher this morning, following positive leads from overseas.
Wall Street closed sharply higher this morning with another bull-run, as the Dow Jones and S&P 500 posted new record highs (once again). US equities have rallied strongly since Donald Trump won the US Presidential election. In the last 22 trading sessions, the Dow finished higher 18 times – and 12 of those times were record closes.
Investors clearly have a lot of optimism that a Trump administration will spend more on infrastructure and deregulate certain sectors – particularly, the financials sector.
The price of iron ore surged 3% overnight, with expectations that demand for steel from China will remain strong in the near future. Shares in Rio Tinto at the London and New York stock exchanges rose sharply as a result.
Meanwhile, the price of oil fell overnight amid concerns about whether OPEC and non-OPEC producers will actually be able to cut back oil production to contain the global oversupply of oil.
MarketsStarting with the US, Wall Street finished higher overnight: The Dow Jones gained 1.6% to close at 19,550, the S&P 500 was 1.3% higher at 2,241, while the NASDAQ rose 1.1% to close at 5,394.
European markets finished higher as well: London’s FTSE was up 1.8%, Paris gained 1.4%, and Frankfurt added 2%.
Asian markets finished higher: the Nikkei gained 0.7%, the Hang Seng was up 0.6%, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.7%.
The Australian share market finished stronger yesterday, with the ASX 200 closing 49 points higher at 5,478. This morning, on the futures market the SPI is up 49 points.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 8.30am is buying $US0.748, 59.26 Pence, 85.11 Yen and 69.54 Euro cents.
Local economic newsToday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release its October trade balance data, which will shed light on the value of imports and exports during that month.
Company newsMedical technology company, Rhinomed
(ASX:RNO), has entered into a distribution and supply agreement with the Linde Group, a global gas, healthcare and engineering company, and its Australian subsidiary, BOC Ltd. BOC will manage logistics and distribute Rhinomed's breathing technologies, called Mute and Turbine, in the Australian and New Zealand markets. Rhinomed expects revenue from this deal will flow in the second half of this financial year. Shares in Rhinomed closed 5.88% higher at 1.8 cents.
iCandy Interactive Ltd
(ASX:ICI), which is a company that develops games for mobile phones, has (through its subsidiary) acquired an Indonesian mobile advertising company called PT Maximum Impact. iCandy says this acquisition is valued at US$800,000 (which is AU$1.07 million at today’s exchange rate). The company believes this acquisition will speed up its path to making a profit. At 30 June 2016, the company posted a net loss $895,000. iCandy says this transaction should be complete in the next 60 days. Shares in iCandy closed 40% higher at 14 cents.
Ex-dividendsTwo companies are going ex-dividend today:
BT Investment Management
(ASX:BTT) will a dividend of 24 cents per share, 35% franked.
Gentrack Group Ltd
(ASX:GTK) will pay an unfranked dividend of 7.32 cents.
CommoditiesGold is up $4.20 to $US1,174 an ounce.
Silver has gained $0.37 to $17.18.
Copper has lost 3 cents and is now $2.65.
Oil is down $1.08 to US$49.85 per barrel.
