Dow Jones almost at 20,000 points: ASX to open higher

Market Reports

by David Chau

The Australian share market is expected to open higher this morning, following positive leads from overseas.

Wall Street finished its Tuesday trading session with new record highs for the Dow Jones and NASDAQ. The Dow hit a 17th new record high and has surged by over 8% since the US election in early November. The Dow is just 25 points shy of hitting the 20,000 mark. Financials shares are back in the lead, with Goldman Sachs posting the highest gains.

It seems investors are still bullish and shrugging off the recent geopolitical tensions - from the assassination of Russia's Ambassador to Turkey to the situation in Berlin, where a truck ploughed into a crowd at a Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring 48 others.

Over the last week, the Aussie dollar fell around 4% against the US Greenback -- and it's now hovering around the US72c mark.

Markets

Wall Street finished higher this morning: The Dow Jones gained almost 0.5% to close at 19,975, the S&P 500 added almost 0.4% to finish at 2,271, while the NASDAQ rose 0.5% to close at 5,484.

European markets were higher as well: London’s FTSE was up 0.4%, Paris added 0.6%, while Frankfurt gained 0.3%.

Asian markets finished mixed: the Nikkei was up 0.5%, while both the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite fell 0.5%.

The Australian share market finished stronger yesterday, with the ASX 200 closing 29 points up at 5,591. This morning, on the futures market the SPI is up 12 points.

Currencies

The Australian Dollar at 8.30am is buying $US0.7258, 58.72 Pence, 85.53 Yen and 69.88 Euro cents.

Company news

Santos (ASX:STO) has agreed to sell its 50% stake in the Mereenie Oil And Gas Field, which includes an oil pipeline in the Northern Territory, to a subsidiary of Macquarie Group Ltd. The other 50% stake in the Merreenie assets is owned by Central Petroleum (ASX:CTP), who will remain the operator of this venture. Shares in Santos Group closed 0.25% lower yesterday at $3.97.

Transurban Queensland has reached financial close for its Logan Enhancement Project. The goal of this project is to significantly reduce congestion on the Logan and Gateway Extension motorways in Queensland, which the company says will generate more than $1 billion in economic benefits and create 1,300 direct construction jobs. Transurban Group (ASX:TCL) has a 62.5% stake in Transurban Queensland. Shares in Transurban Group closed 0.67% lower yesterday at $10.41.

Commodities

Gold is down $0.40 to $US1,133 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.01 to $16.11.
Copper was flat at $2.50.
Oil is up $0.01 to US$53.31 per barrel.

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