Despite negative leads from US markets, local futures are still pointing to the Australian share market opening slightly higher. Overnight US markets slumped on news President Trump would consider shutting down government should he not be successful in securing funding for his border wall with Mexico. Benchmarks dropped across the board, losing some of the gains made on Tuesday on the back of positive sentiment on the news of progress around tax reform.
US economic newsNew home sales fell 9.4 per cent in July from June, missing forecasts by a wide mark. Mortgage applications also dropped in the past week, down 0.5 per cent, while applications to purchase also fell 1.5 per cent.
MarketsWall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4 per cent to close at 21,812, the S&P 500 lost 0.4 per cent to close at 2,444 and the NASDAQ fell 0.3 per cent to close at 6,278.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE closed flat, Paris lost 0.3 per cent and Frankfurt finished the day 0.5 per cent down.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was closed due to a typhoon, and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.1 per cent.
The Australian share market closed lower yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 13 points down to finish at 5,737. On the futures market the SPI is 8 points up.
Company newsAusdrill Limited
(ASX:ASL) has posted a full year net profit after tax of $31.4M, up 53.3 per cent on the last financial year. Revenue for the group also lifted to $776.3M while EBITDA grew 8.6 per cent to $154.4 million. The business has cited strong growth in its African operations alongside cost reductions and restructuring as key performance drivers. A fully franked dividend of 2 cents per share has been declared, bringing total dividends for FY17 to 4 cents per share. Shares in Ausdrill Limited
(ASX:ASL) last traded 2.33% higher at $2.20.
Reporting season Approximately 30 companies are expected to post earnings today. Big names to watch out for include Ardent Leisure Group
(ASX:AAD), Nine Entertainment
(ASX:NEC) and Spotless Group Holdings
(ASX:SPO).
Ex-dividends11 companies are going ex-dividend today: Baby Bunting
(ASX:BBN) is paying 4.3 cents fully franked, JB Hi-Fi
(ASX:JBH) is paying 46 cents fully franked, QBE Insurance
(ASX:QBE) will pay 22 cents 30 per cent franked and Woodside Petroleum
(ASX:WPL) will pay 62.4 cents fully franked.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying $US79.06 cents, 61.77 Pence Sterling, 86.15 Yen and 66.95 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has gained $5.30 to $US1,296 an ounce.
Silver has gained $0.12 to $US17.18 an ounce
Oil has gained $0.54 to $US48.37 a barrel.
