The Australian share market will open higher this morning, following strong leads from the US.
Wall Street was closed on Monday for its Presidents’ Day public holiday. When it re-opened for on Tuesday, it posted new record highs once again, over optimism of US President Donald Trump’s upcoming announcement of a “phenomenal” tax plan in the next couple of weeks.
Every US sector finished in the black – led by Utilities and Energy stocks.
However, the local bourse’s performance today will depend on investor sentiment as another flood of company financial results are released throughout the day.
US economic newsIHS Markit has released the latest flash read of its purchasing managers' index, reaching 54.3 in February, seasonally adjusted. This is slightly down from its January figure of 55.8, which was a 14-month high – showing American private sector output growth is starting to slowing down.
Local economic newsReserve Bank governor Philip Lowe will be speaking at the Australia-Canada Economic Leadership Forum in Sydney.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release two sets of December quarter data – one for construction work done during that period, and the other being the wage price index figures.
MarketsThis morning, Wall Street’s posted new record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.6% higher at 20,743 points. The S&P 500 gained 0.6 per cent to 2,365 and the NASDAQ added 0.5 per cent to 5,866.
European markets finished mixed: London’s FTSE fell 0.3 per cent, Paris gained 0.5 per cent, and Frankfurt surged 1.2 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed as well: the Nikkei gained 0.7 per cent, the Hang Seng fell 0.8 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.4 per cent.
The Australian share market finished lower yesterday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index fell by 4 points to finish at 5,791. On the futures market, this morning the SPI is up 31 points.
Company newsBHP Billiton
(ASX:BHP) has had a reversal of fortune – swinging from loss to profit for the first half of this financial year. The mining giant posted a first half net profit of US$3.2 billion, which is a significant improvement over the $7.84 billion loss it posted in the prior corresponding period. The surge in profit was due to a recovery in commodity prices. The company declared a dividend of 52 cents per share, which is 150% higher than the previous year. Yesterday, shares in BHP closed 0.98% higher at $26.73.
Reporting seasonSeveral companies are reporting their results today. They include: APN News & Media
(ASX:APN), Bluescope Steel
(ASX:BSL), Coca Cola
(ASX:CCL), Fairfax (ASXFXJ), Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG), Qube Holdings
(ASX:QUB), Stockland
(ASX:SGP), Woodside Petroleum
(ASX:WPL) and Woolworths
(ASX:WOW).
Ex-dividendsFour companies are going ex-dividend today, including:
- AMP Limited
(ASX:AMP) which will pay 14 cents (90% franked),
- Commonwealth Bank
(ASX:CBA) -- $1.99 (fully franked),
- HFA Holdings Limited
(ASX:HFA) -- 7.78 cents (unfranked), and
- MyState Limited
(ASX:MYS) -- 14 cents (fully franked).
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 8:25AM was buying $US76.77 cents, 61.55 Pence Sterling, 87.27 Yen and 72.84 Euro cents.
CommoditiesGold has dropped $2.10 to $US1,237 an ounce.
Silver fell $0.06 to $18.04 an ounce.
Light crude is up $0.59 to $US54.37 a barrel.
