Australian share investors can expect the local market to open higher this morning, thanks to positive leads from Wall Street.
US equities, gold prices, and even oil prices, have bounced back after the Federal Reserve concluded its March meeting and announced an interest rate hike this morning – which came as a surprise to nobody.
The Fed lifted American interest rates by 0.25%, which means the Federal Funds Rate is now between 0.75% and 1%. The US central bank is expecting to raise interest rates twice more this year. The Fed’s decision has increased the cost of borrowing in the US, and also lifted the Aussie Dollar against the US Greenback.
US economic newsThe consumer price index rose 0.1% (m/m) in February. Looking at America’s CPI over a twelve-month period, that is an increase of 2.7% - its largest annual gain since March 2012.
Retail sales were up 0.1% last month, the weakest result since August 2016.
Business inventories rose 0.3 percent in January.
Home builder sentiment rose to ‘71’ points this month, which is its best result in 12 years.
Local economic newsToday, ABS will release jobs data and unemployment figures for February.
MarketsWall Street finished higher: the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5 per cent to close at 20,950, the S&P 500 jumped 0.8 per cent to 2,385 and the NASDAQ advanced 0.74 per cent to 5,900.
European markets finished higher as well, with London’s FTSE, Paris and Frankfurt all gaining 0.2 percent each.
Asian markets closed mostly lower: Tokyo’s Nikkei abd Hong Kong’s Hang Seng both fell 0.2 per cent. China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.1 per cent.
The Australian share market finished higher yesterday: the S&P/ASX 200 index rose 15 points to close at 5,774. On the futures market the SPI is 36 points higher.
Company newsWestpac Bank
(ASX:WBC) and ANZ Bank
(ASX:ANZ) have both entered into enforceable undertakings with ASIC, following an industry-wide review of Spot Foreign Exchange trading between January 2008 and June 2013. In a statement released to the market, ANZ acknowledged its supervision and monitoring weren’t good enough, and has apologised. Both banks said they will seek input from independent experts on their policies and processes in regards to their Spot FX trading businesses. Both banks have also announced they will contribute $3 million each to the charity, Financial Literacy Australia. Yesterday, shares in Westpac closed 0.23% lower at $34.80, whereas ANZ closed 0.5% higher at $32.05.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 7.40am was buying 77.04 US cents, 62.7 Pence Sterling, 87.39 Yen and 71.83 Euro cents.
CommoditiesGold has risen $20.20 to $US1,219 an ounce.
Silver has gained 43 cents to $17.33 an ounce.
Oil has advanced 53 cents to $US49.53 a barrel.
Ex-dividends
