Following mixed leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set for an uncertain open this morning. The Energy space proved to be the biggest drag on US indices after the price of Brent slid to below US$45 a barrel, confirming that oil is now officially in a bear market. It wasn’t all gloom and doom however on the US market overnight, we saw a rebound in biotechs and some solid gains in big techs like Twitter which leaped about 6.5 per cent.
US economic newsUS existing home sales have jumped in May according to latest data from The National Association of Realtors. Home sales increased by 1.1 per cent to 5.62 million units last month.
Local economic newsThe Australian Bureau of Statistics will release its detailed monthly data on the Australian jobs market. The month of May’s figures include employment by industry data.
US marketsWall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3 per cent to close at 21,410, the S&P 500 lost 0.1 per cent to close at 2,436 and the NASDAQ gained 0.7 per cent to close at 6,234.
European marketsLondon’s FTSE lost 0.3 per cent, Paris lost 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt was down 0.3 per cent.
Asian marketsTokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.5 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.6 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.5 per cent.
Australian marketAnd back home, the Australian share market closed lower yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 92 points down to finish at 5,666. On the futures market the SPI is 15 points higher.
Company newsMonadelphous Limited
(ASX:MND) has secured a major Woodside operated gas production facilities contract. The engineering company will provide gas asset general maintenance services in the north-west of Western Australia valued at around $500 million. Monadelphous says the contract is a significant strategic award and demonstrates the leadership position of the company in the provision of offshore and onshore maintenance services for gas production facilities in Australia. Shares in Monadelphous closed 2.88 per cent lower at $13.49.
Ex-dividendsTwo companies are going ex-dividend today: G8 Education Limited
(ASX:GEM) declared a fully franked of 6 cents and Trilogy International Limited
(ASX:TIL) declared a 4.27 cent unfranked dividend.
Currencies and the dollarTurning to currencies and the Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US0.7555, 59.63 Pence Sterling, 84.17 Yen and 67.66 Euro cents.
CommoditiesGold has gained $4 to $US1,248 an ounce. Silver gained $0.01 to $16.49, Oil has lost $0.98 to $US42.53 a barrel.
