Mixed results on Wall St: ASX futures up

Market Reports

by David Murdoch

Following mixed results on Wall Street the Australian share market looks set to open slightly higher. The Dow closed at a record high with Boeing and United Technologies leading the charge, but the S&P 500 and the tech heavy NASDAQ closed down with Consumer Discretionaries leading the decliners, as the rest of the market was weighed down by inflation fears after weaker than expected economic data. 

On the commodities front, US crude jumped to a near four-month high, while the iron ore price shed 2.6 per cent. The safe haven of gold, also slipped on the back of weaker than expected US inflation data.

US economic news:

The Core inflation rate in the United States which excludes prices of food and energy remained at a two-year low of 1.7 percent in August of 2017, the same as in the previous three months but above market expectations of 1.6 percent. Consumer prices in the US increased 1.9 percent year-on-year in August of 2017, above the 1.7 percent in July and market expectations of 1.8 percent. It is the highest reading in three months, due to rising shelter and gasoline cost as Hurricane Harvey shut down refineries along the Gulf coast.

Markets

Wall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 per cent to close at 22,203, the S&P 500 lost 0.11 per cent to close at 2,496 and the NASDAQ lost 0.48 per cent to close at 6,429. 

European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE lost 1.1 per cent, Paris gained 0.15 per cent and Frankfurt lost 0.1 per cent. 

Asian markets closed lower: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.4 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.4 per cent. 

And back home, the Australian share market closed lower yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 6 points down or 0.09 per cent lower to finish at 5,739.

On the futures market the SPI up 7 points.

Company News

Integrated research (ASX:IRI) has announced the appointment of John Merakovsky as its Managing Director effective from September 14, 2017. Integrated research is a leading global provider of management solutions for IT infrastructure, payments and communications systems with links to over 1,000 organisations in over 60 countries. John Merakovsky joined integrated research as CEO in July, 2017. Shares in Integrated Research (ASX:IRI) last traded down 0.3 per cent at $3.28.

Ex-dividends 

Just the one company going ex-dividend today, Skydive the Beach Group Limited (ASX:SKB) paying one cent fully franked.

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying 80.03 US cents, 59.74 Pence Sterling, 88.22 Yen and 67.17 Euro cents.

Commodities

Gold has gained $6.60 to $US1,334 an ounce.
Silver has lost 1 cent to $US17.86 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.47 to $US50.18 a barrel.

 

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