Tech stocks fall: Aus shares to open lower

Market Reports

by Kathy Skantzos

The Dow finished higher at the closing bell, hitting an intraday record rising more than 300 points at its session high. The tax reform bill was passed marginally yesterday after a close vote, bringing positivity to investors. However, all the other major indices closed in the red. There was a sharp decline in tech stocks, with Netflix, Facebook and Alphabet all declining, which sent the Nasdaq in negative territory.

Iron ore is keeping up a steady pace after commodities had a solid start to the week. Oil has dropped, and gold is also tracking lower.

The Australian futures are down 30 points, setting the pace for a slow start to the day.

Local economic news

The Reserve bank will meet today for the last time this year.  No announcements are expected. 

The HIA will release new home sales for the month, which dropped 6 per cent in the previous month.

Monthly retail sales figures will be out, which were flat in September and expected to increase only slightly.

The AIG will release the services index for the month, which dropped in October

The current account for the quarter will be out. Last quarter saw an increase to $9.6 billion.

Figures

Wall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 per cent to close at 24,290, the S&P 500 lost 0.1 per cent to close at 2,639 and the NASDAQ dropped 1.1 per cent to close at 6,775.

European markets closed up: London’s FTSE gained 0.5 per cent, Paris gained 1.4 per cent and Frankfurt is 1.5 per cent higher.

Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 0.5 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.2 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.2 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 5,986.

On the futures market the SPI is 30 points down.

Company news

Charter Hall WALE REIT (ASX:CLW) announced this morning the successful completion of the institutional component of its underwritten entitlement offer, raising $47.6 million. The retail component of the offer is expected to raise approximately $46.5 million, taking the total entitlement offer to $94.1 million. Shares in Charter Hall WALE (ASX:CLW) closed 0.94 per cent higher to $4.30.

Base and precious metal developer, Heron Resources (ASX:HRR) has inked an agreement to buy all the historical data for the Peelwood NSW project, allowing rapid assessment of the area. Heron also applied for a further tenement in the same location that covers high-grade zinc deposits. Shares in Heron Resources (ASX:HRR) closed 2.14 per cent lower to 68.5 cents.

Ex-dividends

2 companies are going ex-dividend today. Aristocrat Leisure (ASX:ALL) is paying 20 cents fully franked and Fisher & Paykel (ASX:FPH) is paying 7.9 cents unfranked.

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 9:00AM was buying 75.99 US cents, 56.43 Pence Sterling, 85.44 Yen and 64.06 Euro cents.

Commodities

Gold has lost $3.20 to $US1,279 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.03 to $US16.36 an ounce.
Oil has lost $0.92 to $US57.44 a barrel.
 

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