US markets rally: Aus shares to open higher

Market Reports

by Jessica Ellerm

Following positive leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open higher this morning. With speculation of tax reform back on the agenda in the White House, Wall St pushed higher across the board.

However some analysts believe the rally is short lived, and are looking further ahead to monetary policy guidance from the Fed, with a key meeting on the agenda this Thursday. Expectations are that the central bank will start to wind down the $4.5 trillion in bonds on its balance sheet before the end of the year, with impacts on the market still unknown.

On the commodities front, oil has gained 10 cents and gold has shed just over $US6.

US economic news

The Richmond Fed Manufacturing index held at 14 for August, solidly beating a forecast of 9. US house prices also saw modest growth month on month in August, up 0.1 per cent on July’s data.

Markets

Wall Street closed up yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.9 per cent to close at 21,900, the S&P 500 added almost 1per cent to close at 2,453 and the NASDAQ surged 1.4 per cent to close at 6,297.

European markets closed up: London’s FTSE up 0.9 per cent, Paris also rose 0.9 per cent and Frankfurt jumped 1.4 per cent.

Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.9 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite lifted 0.1 per cent.

The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 24 points up to finish at 5,750. On the futures market the SPI is 31 points up.

Company news

LifeHealthcare Group (ASX:LHC) has announced its results for the full year ending 30 June 2017. Compared to FY16, underlying earnings grew by 4.6 per cent to $20.4M while revenue was up 10.4 per cent to $126.7 million. Gross margin did deteriorate over the period by 3.9 per cent however, partly impacted by averge hedging rates between the Australian and US dollar declining. Shares in LifeHealthcare Group closed 0.83 per cent higher at $2.42.

Reporting season

Approximately 23 companies are expected to report today. Names to watch out for include Coca-Cola Amatil (ASX:CCL), Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC), Insurance Group Australia (ASX:IAG), Star Entertainment Group (AX:SGR) and Woolworths (ASX:WOW)

Ex-dividends 

5 companies are going ex-dividend today: AGLEnergy (ASX:AGL) will pay 50 cents 80 per cent franked, AMP Limited (ASX:AMP) will pay 14.5 cents 90 per cent franked and Pact Group Holdings (ASX:PGH) will pay 11.5 cents 65 per cent franked.

Currencies

The Australian Dollar at 7:35AM was buying $US79.10 cents, 61.70 Pence Sterling, 86.69 Yen and 67.26 Euro cents.

Commodities

Gold has lost $6.30 to $US1,290 an ounce
Silver has lost $0.03 to $US17.07 an ounce
Oil has gained $0.10 to $US47.63 a barrel for light crude.
 

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