The Australian share market will open higher today – amid a rise in base metal prices overnight, and and Wall Street providing a positive lead.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at new record highs, with Materials and Energy being the strongest performing sectors – after they received a boost from new executive orders from US President Donald Trump. The new President signed orders allowing for the Dakota Access oil pipeline to be completed, and the Keystone XL pipeline to be built (in his latest bid to overturn former President Barack Obama’s environmental policies).
European equities closed mostly despite the UK’s Supreme Court deciding that the British government needs to obtain parliamentary approval before it can begin Brexit negotiations with the European Union. This court decision will delay UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans to trigger Article 50 by March, and finalise Britain’s divorce from the EU in two years.
Overnight, the Australian Dollar has weakened slightly against the British Pound and US Dollar.
US economic newsIHS Markit released its Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index figures – showing a reading of 55.1 in January, up from 54.3 in December. Anything above 50 indicates industry growth and, indeed, new orders surged at their fastest pace in two years.
According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales fell 2.8% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.49 million units – as supply hit its lowest level since 1999.
Australian economic newsLater today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release its Consumer Price Index figures for the quarter ending December 2016.
MarketsWall Street finished higher this morning: The Dow Jones added 0.6 per cent to 19,913, the S&P 500 gained 0.7 per cent to 2,280 and the NASDAQ was up 0.9 per cent to 5,601.
European markets finished mixed: London’s FTSE was flat, Paris was up 0.2 per cent and Frankfurt gained 0.4 per cent.
Asian markets were mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 0.6 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite both gained 0.2 per cent each.
The Australian share market finished higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 39 points to finish at 5,650. On the futures market the SPI is 37 points higher.
Company newsXped Ltd
(ASX:XPE), a company in the “Internet of Things” market, has signed a licensing agreement with China-based Lenze Technology Co Ltd. The company has licensed its Auto Discovery Remote Control technologies to Lenze in return for a fee which is payable for each download of the Xped App. The company expects to earn revenue from this deal in the second half of this year. Yesterday, shares in Xped closed 3.23% higher at 3.2 cents.
Ex-dividendsAspen Group
(ASX:APZ) will pay an unfranked dividend of 2.1 cents.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 8:40AM was buying $US0.7583, 60.65 Pence Sterling, 86.29 Yen and 70.66 Euro cents.
CommoditiesGold has slipped $6.80 to $US1,212 an ounce.
Silver has fallen by 6 cents to $17.13 an ounce.
Oil has risen $0.06 to $US52.94 a barrel.
