The Australian share market looks set to open lower this morning, after US markets plunged lower into red territory, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reporting its fifth day of losses.
Investors in the US are eagerly awaiting Donald Trump being sworn in as US President, which will occur tomorrow morning Australian time.
The S&P 500 was dragged down, with real estate leading the decliners. While on a sector basis, energy saw the most losses followed by healthcare, while industrials and telcos etched higher.
To US economic news: Housing starts for December added 11.3%, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.23 million units last month. This was more than economist predicted. The surge was fuelled by a 57% rise in the construction of multi-family housing units.
Markets: Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4 per cent to close at 19,732, the S&P 500 shed 0.4 per cent to close at 2,264 and the NASDAQ lost 0.3 per cent to close at 5,540.
European markets closed down: London’s FTSE lost 0.5 per cent, Paris lost 0.25 per cent and Frankfurt closed flat. .
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.9 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.2 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.4 per cent.
And back home, the Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 13 points higher to finish at 5,692. On the futures market the SPI is down 10 points.
Company news: Uranium producer, Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN) has announced MGT Resources has received shareholder approval, to buy 30% of the Manyingee Uranium project for US$10 million cash. Paladin and MGT previously signed a binding term sheet,that would see the tin producer, MGT, buy a third of the project in North West Australia. MGT also has the option to buy an additional 45% stake in the site for US$20 million cash. Shares in Paladin closed 1.18% lower to 8.4 cents.
Currencies:
Australian Dollar at 8.30am was buying $US75.63 cents, 61.3 Pence Sterling, 86.83 Yen and 70.93 Euro cents.
Commodities: Gold has gained 50 cents to $US1,205 an ounce for the February contract on Comex.
Silver lost 25 cents to US$17.02 an ounce.
Oil has gained 26 cents to $US52.15 a barrel for February light crude.
