The Australian share market is bracing for some selling at the open, after Wall Street closed lower, the iron ore price fell over 1 per cent, while the copper price slid over 4.4 per cent.
All off this pointing to a fall for the broader market and a heavy hit for our miners shares today.
On Wall Street the Dow jones fell over 100 points, with Walt Disney falling 2.7 per cent. While S&P 500 saw its first three-day losing streak since August. Telcos, industrials and utilities underperformed, while Tech stocks were the only advancing sector. Despite that, the tech heavy Nasdaq slipped.
US economic newsUS service sector activity, fell to a reading of 57.4 in November, falling more than the reading of 59 expected. Despite that, the prior month saw a bout of surprise growth. The non-manufacturing economic index measures activity in 17 industries, including real estate, construction, and mining. And as the reading is still above 50, it indicates the service is still definitely in expansionary mode.
Local economic news We are expected a reading from the ABS about our economic growth. Economists are forecasting GDP would have grown 0.8 per cent in the September quarter and 2.8 per cent over the year.
Markets Wall Street closed lower: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5 per cent to close at 24,166, the S&P 500 slipped 0.4 per cent to close at 2,630 and the NASDAQ lost around 0.2 per cent to close at 6,762.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE lost 0.2 per cent, Paris lost 0.3 per cent and Frankfurt slipped 0.1 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 1 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.2 per cent.
And back home, the Australian share market closed lower yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 14 points down to finish at 5,972.
On the futures market the SPI is 32 points down.
Company news New Zealand’s largest poultry producer, Tegel Group Holdings
(ASX:TGH) reported its Net Profit After Tax (NPAT) fell 2.3 per cent to $14.8 million, over the half year to 29 October 2017 (compared to same time last year) on the back of “ongoing (pricing) challenges”. Its underlying earnings, (EBITDA) slipped 1.7 per cent to $34.6 million. Despite that, the businesses revenue rose 2 per cent in the period. Tegel Group Holdings shares closed 3.3 per cent higher yesterday at $1.27.
Ex-dividends1 company is going ex-dividend today, Collins Foods
(ASX:CKF) is paying 8 cents, fully franked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:35AM was buying 76.09 US cents, 56.61 Pence Sterling, 85.67 Yen and 64.36 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has fallen to a two month low, losing $9.40 to $US1,268 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.24 to $US16.13 an ounce.
Oil is flat at $US57.47 a barrel.
