The Australian share market is set to see its third straight day of gains after Wall Street has continued to break records. And in more good news, the Iron Ore Price also charged up, which will add further steam to our local bourse today.
In the US, the S&P 500 broke through the previous day's record close with Financials leading the charge. The Dow Jones and the tech heavy Nasdaq also closed at record highs.
The steam came from a rise of over 2 per cent in the US Government’s 10-year Treasury yields, which gained further momentum from a steep gain in the prior session. The yield also hit its highest level since 1 September 2017. (For those that don't know, a 10-year Treasury note pays interest at a fixed rate once every six months and pays the face value to the holder at maturity).
On the commodities front, the iron ore price rose over 2 per cent while the oil price edged higher.
To the figuresWall Street closed higher: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.28 per cent to close at 22,119, the S&P 500 added 0.34 per cent to close at 2,496 and the NASDAQ gained 0.34 per cent to close at 6,454.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE lost 0.2 per cent, Paris gained 0.6 per cent and Frankfurt added 0.4 per cent.
Asian markets closed higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 1.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.1 per cent.
And back home, the Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 33 points up or 0.6 per cent higher to finish at 5,746.
On the futures market the SPI is 25 points up.
Company newsBlackmores
(ASX:BKL) has announced its new CEO, Richard Henfrey will take the Managing Director (MD) helm, effective 30 September. Christine Holgate previously announced her resignation as CEO and MD and will stand down on 29 September 2017. The reshuffle comes in the wake of the health supplement company reporting a 42 per cent drop in its net profit after tax for FY17, compared to the prior year. Shares in Blackmores
(ASX:BKL) closed 0.41 per cent lower at $114.50.
Ex-dividendsOver a dozen companies are going ex-dividend today, just to name a few though.
Brambles
(ASX:BXB) is paying 14.5 cents, 30 per cent franked,
Lovisa Holdings
(ASX:LOV) is paying 7.6 cents fully franked,
Pengana Capital
(ASX:PCG) is paying 4.5 cents fully franked and
Seven Group Holdings
(ASX:SVW) is paying 21 cents fully franked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7.30AM was buying 80.19 US cents, 60.43 Pence Sterling, 88.33 Yen and 67.04 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has gained $3.40 to $US1,336 an ounce.
Silver has added $0.07 to $US17.97 an ounce.
Oil has added $0.23 to $US48.86 a barrel.
