Following positive leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open higher. Wall street rallied yesterday as fears of a trade war eased. There are hopes the US and China will negotiate a deal. China has also taken more measured approach to the threat of tariffs. The Nasdaq was up 3 per cent with the likes of Microsoft, Intel and Apple gaining. Facebook went the other way following the announcement of an investigation into its data usage. Financials rose sharply with shares such as JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs both gaining over 2 per cent.
On the commodities front, oil is fairly steady, it lost about 39 cents, copper is down and gold has continued its rally rising almost 4 dollars.
Markets:Wall Street closed up yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.8 per cent to close at 24203, the S&P 500 added 2.7 per cent to close at 2659 and the NASDAQ rose 3.3 per cent to close at 7221.
European markets closed weaker: London’s FTSE dropped 0.5 per cent, Paris lost 0.6 per cent and Frankfurt fell 0.8 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.7 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.6 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 33 points gain. Yesterday the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 30 points lower at 5790
Company newsIron ore producer Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG) has announced a voluntary redemption notice of about $1.6 billion US in relation to the 9.75 per cent senior secured notes due in 2022. The redemption is part of the company’s refinancing strategy which will reduce total debt and deliver a flexible low cost capital structure for the business. The announcement follows a slide of 44 per cent in first half net profit for the company , largely due to wider discounts it had to offer for its lower grade iron ore. Shares in Fortescue
(ASX:FMG) closed 0.9 per cent lower at $4.61.
Ex-dividendsA number of companies are going ex-dividend today: Iluka Resources
(ASX:ILU) is paying 25 cents per share fully franked, Link Administration
(ASX:LNK) is paying 7 cents per share fully franked and Webjet is paying 8 cents per share also fully franked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 8:40AM was buying 77.46 US cents, 54.45 Pence Sterling, 81.68 Yen and 62.24 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has gained $3.70 to $US1359 an ounce.
Silver has gained 12 cents to $US16.70 an ounce.
Oil has lost 39 cents to $US65.49 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has fallen 8 per cent to US$7935, Ethereum fallen/ about 10 per cent to US$476, and Eos has dropped about 17 per cent to $5.50
