Wall Street lifts and oil rises: Aus shares to rally

Market Reports

by Jessica Amir

The Australian share market opened higher after Wall Street rebounded and the oil price started to ease. The three major US indices all gained over 1 per cent on Monday, clawing back some of the losses made last week, its worst week in 2 years.

The Dow jones, the best shiner, with gains in tech gaint, Apple up 4 per cent, and chemical company DowDuPont up 3.4 per cent.

We also saw interest rates, the benchmark 10-year US note yield hit a four-year high, which added fuel to the fire.

Economic news 

The US government reported budget surplus slipped to $49 billion, disappointing economists who expected the budget would hold at January’s $51 billion.

Due out today, NAB’s business survey for December and lending finance for December from the ABS. We can also expect a speech from the RBA Assistant Governor.

Markets

Yesterday the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 17 points lower at 5,821.

Wall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.7 per cent to close at 24,601 the S&P 500 added 1.4 per cent to close at 2,656 and the NASDAQ added 1.6 per cent to close at 6,982.

European markets closed higher: London’s FTSE rose 1.2 per cent, Paris gained 1.2 per cent and Frankfurt rose 1.5 per cent.

Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei was note trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.2 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.8 per cent.

Company News

Tower (ASX:TWR) estimated the New Year storms will cost the group $5 million after tax after New Zealand copped some unusual weather in summer, with more claims than expected. Should Tropical Cyclone Gita exceed $5 million, Tower may hampered by a further $3.5 million. Shares Tower (ASX:TWR) closed 2.4 per cent lower at $0.60

New Zealand electricity generator and retailer, Meridan Energy (ASX:MEZ) has seen its sales volumes slightly fall in January this year by 1.8 per cent compared to January 2017. Meantime it’s seeing national electricity demands rise, compared to prior month. At the same time Meridan also reported a rise in its national hydro storage. Shares in Meridan Energy (ASX:MEZ) closed 4.5 per cent lower at $2.57.

Reporting Season

A swag of companies are reporting financial results today.

Boral Ltd (ASX: BLD)
Cochlear Ltd (ASX:COH)
SG Fleet Group Ltd (ASX:SGF)
GPT Group (ASX:GPT)
Challenger (ASX:CGF)
Propertylink Group (ASX:PLG) and
Transuban (ASX:TCL)

Ex-dividends:

Six companies are going ex-dividend today, Class Limited (ASX:CL1), GUD Holdings (ASX:GUD), Plato Inc Max (ASX:PL8), Scentre Group (ASX:SCG) is paying 10.87 cents unfranked, Tabcorp (ASX:TAH) is paying 11 cents fully franked and Westfield (ASX:WFD) is paying 12.75 cents unfranked.

Currencies
One Australian Dollar at 8:50AM was buying 78.59 US cents, 56.82 Pence Sterling, 85.38 Yen and 63.95 Euro cents.

Commodities
Gold has gained $9.00 to $US1,325 an ounce.
Silver has added $0.36 to $US16.50 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.15 to $US59.14 a barrel.

Cryptocurrencies
The three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading higher: Bitcoin has gained 8 per cent to US$8,820, Ethereum gained about 7 per cent to $866 and Ripple has gained about 8 per cent to $1.04.
 

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