On Wall Street, the three major indices all closed lower with the S&P 500 seeing its biggest stumble in about three weeks as traders and investors digested fresh North Korea tension.
Markets in the US were closed for Labor Day on Monday, so it’s the first time US stocks got to react to North Korea’s advanced hydrogen bomb that was detonated at the weekend. It was the sixth nuclear test since 2006 and its most powerful to date. The Dow Jones dived about 230 points while Financials posted their worst day since late May.
On a good note, US refineries are firing up again after Hurricane Harvey, and that saw US crude oil prices jump 2.9 per cent.
Taking all of that into consideration, our Australian share market expected to shed half a per cent.
US economic news New orders for US factory-made goods fell 3.3 per cent in July, falling slightly more than economists expected. It also marked the biggest drop in nearly three years, since August 2014. The Commerce Department says it comes amid a slump in demand for transportation equipment.
Local economic news Economic growth figures for the June quarter will be announced today, with expectations the economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the quarter and 1.8 per cent over the year, beating last quarter’s annualized 1.7 per cent in trend and seasonally adjusted terms. The last quarter notched its weakest annual expansion since the September quarter in 2009. So the figures released at 11.30am will be closely watched.
Markets Wall Street closed lower: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.07 per cent to close at 21,753, the S&P 500 lost 0.76 per cent to close at 2,458 and the NASDAQ slipped 0.93 per cent to close at 6,376.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE fell 0.5 per cent, Paris lost 0.3 per cent and Frankfurt rose 0.2 per cent.
Asian markets mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.6 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is flat, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.1 per cent.
And back home, the Australian share market closed in positive territory: At the closing bell, The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 4 points higher for the day or 0.07 per cent higher at 5,706.
On the futures market the SPI is 30 points down..
Company newsMOD Resources
(ASX:MOD) has almost tripled its cash for the 2017 financial year compared to the prior corresponding 2016. It however dived deeper into the red, recording a $2 million loss the end of financial year. Meantime, the copper company exploring in the Kalahari Copper Belt in Botswana increased its resource by 27 per cent. Shares in MOD Resources
(ASX:MOD) last traded flat 6.4 cent.
Currencies One Australian Dollar at 7:35AM was buying 79.95 US cents, 61.35 Pence Sterling, 86.96 Yen and 67.14 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has gained $6.30 to $US1,345 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.02 to $US17.96 an ounce.
And Oil has gained $1.22 to $US48.62 a barrel.
Ex-dividends21 companies going ex-dividend today.
| Name | Code | Date | Amount(cents) | Franking % |
| Apn Outdoor Grp | APO | 6/09/17 | 6.70 | 100 |
| Engenco Limited | EGN | 6/09/17 | 0.50 | 100 |
| Event Hospitality | EVT | 6/09/17 | 31.00 | 100 |
| GTN Limited | GTN | 6/09/17 | 4.80 | 100 |
| Healthscope Limited | HSO | 6/09/17 | 3.50 | 0 |
| Insurance Australia | IAG | 6/09/17 | 20.00 | 100 |
| Idp Education Ltd | IEL | 6/09/17 | 5.50 | 55 |
| Independence Group | IGO | 6/09/17 | 1.00 | 100 |
| IRESS Limited | IRE | 6/09/17 | 16.00 | 60 |
| InvoCare Limited | IVC | 6/09/17 | 18.50 | 100 |
| MACA Limited | MLD | 6/09/17 | 4.50 | 100 |
| Metals X Limited | MLX | 6/09/17 | 1.00 | 0 |
| Medibank Private Ltd | MPL | 6/09/17 | 6.75 | 100 |
| Monash IVF Group Ltd | MVF | 6/09/17 | 4.50 | 100 |
| NZK Salmon Ltd | NZK | 6/09/17 | 2.74 | 0 |
| Objective Corp | OCL | 6/09/17 | 5.00 | 80 |
| OZ Minerals | OZL | 6/09/17 | 6.00 | 100 |
| Pm Capital Fund | PGF | 6/09/17 | 1.80 | 100 |
| Perpetual Limited | PPT | 6/09/17 | 135.00 | 100 |
| St Barbara Limited | SBM | 6/09/17 | 6.00 | 100 |
| Veem Ltd | VEE | 6/09/17 | 1.23 | 100 |
