Following mixed leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open flat. Wall street experienced a volatile day with the major benchmarks alternating between gains and losses. Investors remain concerned about whether President Trump will proceed with steel and aluminum tariffs.
On the commodities front, oil is slightly lower and gold has risen.
Taking all of this into consideration, the ASX futures are pointing to a 5 points gain. Yesterday the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 67 points higher at 5962.
And as for local economic news due out today, We can look out for the economic growth figures for the December quarter analysts expect growth of about 0.6 per cent.
To the figures from around the globe: Wall Street closed up yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.04 per cent to close at 24,884, the S&P 500 added 0.3 per cent to close at 2,728 and the NASDAQ added 0.6 per cent to close at 7,372.
European markets closed higher: London’s FTSE gained 0.4 per cent, Paris was up 0.1 per cent and Frankfurt rose 0.2 per cent.
Asian markets closed stronger: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 1.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained over 2 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite climbed 1 per cent.
Company newsTungsten Mining
(ASX:TGN) has announced its half year results, the emerging tungsten developer reduced its net loss from $1.6 million to $1.5 million for the half year to December 2017.
Meantime, net cash used in operating and investing activities rose from $1.5 to $1.8 million.
The company has not declared dividends for the period. Over the six months the company continued the exploration and evaluation of mining projects and purchased a new processing plant . Shares in Tungsten
(ASX:TGN) closed 2.1 per cent lower at $0.47.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 8:30AM was buying $US78.19 cents, 56.31 Pence Sterling, 83.04 Yen and 63.04 Euro cents.
CommoditiesGold has gained $15 to $US1335 an ounce.
Silver has gained $0.36 to $US16.77 an ounce.
Oil has lost 14 cents to $US62.43 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading mixed: Bitcoin has fallen 7 per cent to US$10,821, Tether gained about 0.2 per cent to US$0.99, and Ethereum has fallen about 4 per cent to US$820.
Dividends
