Following positive leads from the US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open higher this morning.
The major indexes in the US performed well at close on Friday. The Dow Jones made record leaps, gaining 165 points. After the $4 trillion budget was announced on Thursday, the White House is getting ready to roll out its tax reform, with expectations that corporate taxes will drop. JP Morgan shares surged ahead to reach an all-time high and General Electric picked up after a 6 per cent loss, helping to lift the market. Financials pulled the S&P 500 index up, despite PayPal among the worst performing stocks. The greenback has jumped against safe havens, posting its biggest daily gain in a month on Friday.
Local economic newsOn Monday, CommSec will release its ‘State of the State’ report on state and territory economic performance.
ANZ-Roy Morgan will release Australia’s weekly consumer confidence report on Tuesday.
The consumer price index for the September quarter, including inflation rates, will come out on Wednesday.
The ABS will release import and export prices for the September quarter on Thursday and producer prices for the September quarter on Friday.
Figures Wall Street closed up on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.71 per cent to close at 22,329, the S&P 500 added 0.51 per cent to close at 2,575 and the NASDAQ is up 0.36 per cent to close at 6,629.
European markets closed flat: London’s FTSE closed flat, Paris is up nearly 0.1 per cent and Frankfurt closed 0.01 per cent higher.
Asian markets closed higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.04 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is 1.2 per cent up, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.25 per cent.
And back home, the Australian share market closed higher on Friday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 11 points up to finish at 5,907, gaining 93 points over the week.
On the futures market the SPI is 5 points up.
Company newsYancoal
(ASX:YAL) announced production of 6.09 million tonnes of saleable coal this quarter, a 38 per cent increase from last year. Quarterly sales volumes reached 7.15 million tonnes, up 39 per cent year on year. The coal miner completed its acquisition of Coal and Allied Industries from Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) recently in September this year. Shares in Yancoal
(ASX:YAL) closed 4.35 per cent lower to $0.11.
Ex-dividends3 companies are going ex-dividend today:
Naos Absolute
(ASX:NAC) is paying 2.5 cents, New Hope Corporation
(ASX:NHC) is paying 6 cents and Sandon Capital
(ASX:SNC) is paying 3.5 cents, all fully franked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 78.21 US cents, 59.35 Pence Sterling, 89.07 Yen and 66.50 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has lost $9.50 to $US1,281 an ounce.
Silver has dropped $0.18 cents to $US17.08 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.33 cents to $US51.84 a barrel.
