The Australian share market is poised to advance at the open, after Wall Street posted its 4th day of gains thanks to President Donald Trump’s trade deals and the White House’s proposed budget.
The White House revealed its planned budget for next year will slash federal spending by US$3.6 trillion over the next 10 years.
The Dow Jones rose about 45 points with Goldman Sach leading the charge, while the S&P closed higher as well, while the Nasdaq inked a small gain, after Apple shares slipped.
Meantime, gold is trading lower, while oil has settled higher to a 5-week peak, with investors expecting OPEC will extend its output cuts.
US economic newsThe US Census Bureau has reported new home sales fell 11.9% in April from a near 9-and-a-half-year high. New home sales fell to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 569,000 units, falling from March’s revised sales of 642,000 units, which is the highest level of sales since October 2007.
Local economic news :
We will learn about the Construction Work Done in the March quarter. The data includes estimates of residential, commercial and engineering work completed in the quarter. The figures feed directly into the calculation for economic growth in the quarter. Last quarter, Construction Work Done fell by 0.2 per cent in real (inflation-adjusted) terms after falling by 4.4 per cent in the September quarter.
MarketsWall Street closed higher on Tuesday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 per cent to close at 20,938, the S&P 500 added 0.2 per cent to close at 2,398 and the NASDAQ advanced 0.1 per cent to close at 6,139.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE fell 0.2 per cent, Paris added 0.5 per cent and Frankfurt firmed 0.3 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.5 per cent.
And back home, the Australian share market closed lower on Tuesday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 11 points down or by 0.2 per cent to finish at 5,760.
On the futures market the SPI is 11 points up.
Company newsTorian Resources
(ASX:TNR) has compulsorily acquired the remaining shares in Western Australian mining company, Cascade resources. As a result, the gold explorer, Torian, has become a significant player in the Goldfields region in WA, with over 500 square kilometers of tenure. Torian also now owns 100 per cent of its flagship Zuleika gold resource project near Leonora WA. The mining has also added four additional projects to its bow. Shares in Torian Resources
(ASX:TNR) has last traded 5.56 per cent higher to 9.5 cents.
Ex-dividendsTwo companies are going ex-dividend today:
AusNet Services
(ASX:AST) is paying 5.4 cents un franked
Duluxgroup Limited
(ASX:DLX) is paying 13 cents fully franked.
Currencies The Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 74.78 US cents, 57.70 Pence Sterling, 83.59 Yen and 66.89 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has fallen $11.00 to $US1,251 an ounce.
Silver has lost 13 cents to $US17.06 an ounce.
And Oil has jumped 36 cents to $US51.49 a barrel.
