The Australian share market will open flat this morning, despite US equities posting new record highs.
As for whether the local bourse will trade higher or lower throughout the day, that will depend a lot on the results of the companies who are reporting their first-half earnings today.
MarketsDuring Wall Street’s Friday trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke even, closing flat at 20,624 points. The S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent to 2,351 and the NASDAQ added 0.4 per cent to at 5,839. Technology and Telco shares outperformed, while Energy was the worst performer.
European markets closed mixed on Friday: London’s FTSE rose 0.3 per cent, Paris fell 0.7 per cent, and Frankfurt finished flat.
Asian markets closed lower on Friday: the Nikkei fell 0.6 per cent, the Hang Seng dipped 0.3 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.9 per cent.
Last Friday, the Australian share also market finished lower. The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 11 points to finish at 5,806. On the futures market the SPI is up 5 points.
Local economic news calendar:Tuesday, 21 Feb:
Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): monetary policy meeting minutes (Feb)
Wednesday, 22 Feb:
RBA: Governor Philip Lowe speaks at the Australia-Economic Leadership Forum.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS):
- Construction work done (Dec quarter)
- Wage price index (Dec quarter)
Thursday, 23 Feb:
ABS: Business investment (Dec quarter)
Friday, 24 Feb:
RBA Governor Philip Lowe's testimony before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics
Company newsCenturia Industrial REIT
(ASX:CIP) has confirmed that the $20 million sale of its property at 60 Marple Avenue, Villawood, has settled. Centuria says that sale price is an 8.1% premium to the property’s book value at the end of the 2016 financial year. The REIT says, after this sale, its annual earnings and distribution guidance remains 20.5 cents per security. On Friday, shares in Centuria Industrial REIT closed 0.81% higher at $2.50.
Reporting seasonA number of companies will release their financial results today. They include: Brambles
(ASX:BXB), Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT), Charter Hall Retail REIT
(ASX:CQR) and Worleyparsons
(ASX:WOR).
Ex-dividendsTwo companies are going ex-dividend today:
Wesfarmers
(ASX:WES) will pay $1.03, fully franked.
Shriro Holding Ltd
(ASX:SHM) will pay 7 cents, fully franked.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US76.76 cents, 61.85 Pence Sterling, 86.66 Yen and 72.40 Euro cents.
CommoditiesGold has dropped $3.70 to $US1,236 an ounce.
Silver has fallen by $0.10 to $18.05 an ounce.
Light crude is down $0.08 to $US53.73 a barrel.
