Following positive leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open higher, although the futures index is slightly low this morning.
The Federal Reserve’s minutes raised uncertainty on inflation outlook in the US, with hints of an interest rate hike later this year. This is putting pressure on the US dollar which fell to a two-week low yesterday. Concern about Trump’s tax reform plan has also weakened the greenback from its 10-week high, as well as the aftermath of last week’s payroll figures showing job cuts.
On the commodities front, iron ore is tracking 1.2 per cent lower, while oil and gold are both up.
Local economic newsThe ABS will release home investment lending figures for August and month-on-month home loan figures. Consumer inflation expectations for October will be released today from Roy Morgan. Last month’s data showed a 3.8 per cent drop in September.
FiguresWall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.18 per cent to close at 22,873, the S&P 500 also added 0.18 per cent to close at 2,555 and the NASDAQ is 0.11 per cent higher to close at 6,587.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE dropped 0.1 per cent, Paris was flat and Frankfurt gained 0.2 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.4 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.2 per cent.
And back home, the Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 34 points up to finish at 5,772.
On the futures market the SPI is 2 points down.
Company newsBreville Group
(ASX:BRG) has announced the resignation of its long-standing group Chief Financial Officer Mervyn Cohen. The company said he played a key role in Breville’s transformation from a homewares business to a global appliances company since he joined as CFO in 2016. He was also appointed CEO for three months in the 2009 financial year and for 10 months in FY2015. Later this year, General Manager Michelle Waters will be appointed Interim Group CFO, while recruitment for the position will commence immediately. Shares in Breville Group
(ASX:BRG) last traded 1.64 per cent higher to $11.80.
Ex-dividends2 companies are going ex-dividend today.
MFF Capital
(ASX:MFF) is paying 1 cent fully franked and NuFarm
(ASX:NUF) is paying 8 cents unfranked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 77.91 US cents, 58.91 Pence Sterling, 87.62 Yen and 65.70 Euro cents.
CommoditiesGold has gained $0.90 to $US1,294 an ounce.
Silver is flat at $US17.21 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.15 to $US51.38 a barrel.
