The Australian share market is set to open flat this morning, following lacklustre leads.
Wall Street finished flat, but still close to record highs, as investors digested the results of the French presidential election – which saw centrist Emmanuel Macron win by a landslide over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
China’s demand for steel has continued to slow down, according to trade data it released yesterday. This led to iron ore prices tumbling overnight – down 2.5 per cent to US$60.15 per tonne.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release its latest retail trade data, which will give some insight on the strength of consumer spending in the month of March.
Also out today will be Commonwealth Bank’s March quarter trading update and the Federal budget (which will be the second budget unveiled by Treasurer Scott Morrison).
MarketsThe three Wall Street indices closed flat this morning with The Dow Jones Industrial at 21,012, the S&P 500 at 2,399 and the NASDAQ closed at 6,103 points.
European markets closed mostly lower: London’s FTSE gained almost 0.1 per cent, Paris fell 0.9 per cent and Frankfurt dropped 0.2 per cent.
Asian markets closed mostly higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei surged 2.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.4 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.8 per cent.
Australia’s ASX 200 finished higher yesterday – gaining 34 points (or 0.6 per cent) to 5,871. On the futures market the SPI is flat, and is up 5 points.
Company newsAdelaide food exporter, the Beston Global Food Company
(ASX:BFC), has entered a retail supply and distribution contract in Vietnam. The company has secured first orders for its Kyubu cheese from the MM Mega Market, which is a large Vietnamese supermarket group. Beston expects the revenue and profit impact of this on-going supply deal to largely appear in the 2017-18 financial year and beyond. Yesterday, Beston Global Food shares closed 1.96 per cent higher at 26 cents.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying $US73.87 cents, 57.10 Pence Sterling, 83.68 Yen and 67.64 Euro cents.
CommoditiesGold has fallen $0.70 to $US1,226 an ounce.
Silver is down $0.04 to US$16.23 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.28 to $US46.50 a barrel.
