After only half a day of trade on Friday, Wall Street closed in the green setting positive leads for the Australian share market this morning.
The S&P 500 hit record highs closing above 2,600, with retail seeing positive turns with Black Friday sales leading up to the Christmas season and online sales also climbing. Info technology was the best-performing sector, as shares in Amazon gained 2.6 per cent.
The greenback has dropped against the major currencies, following the Federal Reserve’s concerns over the inflation rate last week.
Iron ore is tracking nearly a per cent higher, which should have a positive influence on the miners today. Ahead of the OPEC meeting in Vienna later this week, oil is tracking 1.6 per cent higher. Gold has dropped.
Local economic newsOn Thursday, the HIA will release new home sales for October, which dropped by 6.1 per cent in September after a 9.1 per cent increase in August.
The ABS will release building approval figures for October which is expected to drop slightly this month after a 1.5 per cent increase in September.
Private capital expenditure for the September quarter will also be out, which increased 0.8 per cent in the previous quarter and is expected to increase by about 1 per cent.
Private sector credit for October will be out, which rose 0.3 per cent in September, below expectations of a consistent 0.5 per cent rise seen in the previous months.
On Friday, the CBA-Markit purchasing managers survey will be out along with CoreLogic’s home prices for November and the manufacturing index.
FiguresWall Street closed up in Friday’s trade: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1 per cent to close at 23,558, the S&P 500 added 0.2 per cent to close at 2,602 and the NASDAQ gained 0.3 per cent to close at 6,889.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE fell 0.1 per cent, Paris gained 0.2 per cent and Frankfurt added 0.4 per cent.
Asian markets closed up: Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.5 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.1 per cent.
And back home, the Australian share market closed lower yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 4 points down to finish at 5,983, gaining 25 over the week.
On the futures market the SPI is 1 point down.
Company newsSuncorp
(ASX:SUN) has announced the completion of its Capital Notes 2 Offer which raised $375 million. The offer was increased from $300 million following strong investor interest. The bank will issue 3.75 million notes at $100 each, expected to be paid on 19 March 2018. Shares in Suncorp
(ASX:SUN) closed 0.07 per cent lower to $14.11.
Ex-dividendsOne company is going ex-dividend today. Infratil
(ASX:AFT) is paying 5.42 cents unfranked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying 76.24 US cents, 57.21 Pence Sterling, 84.93 Yen and 63.86 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has lost $3.30 to $US1,292 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.08 to $US17.09 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.52 to $US58.95 a barrel.
