The Australian Share market looks set to open higher after a late move yesterday into positive territory. At the close the big four banks edged ahead after a slow start. Wall Street saw some volatility although rallied by the afternooon after the tariff war announced by US President Trump. He proposed new trade tariffs on $60 billion worth of Chinese imports.
The move could have a major impact on the global supply of electronics with Apple and Dell potentially affected. China in response threatened tariffs on over 100 US products such as cars, some aeroplanes and soybeans.
On the commodities front – Oil is edging up slightly as gold sees a slight fall.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 24 points gain. Yesterday the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 9 points higher at 5761.
Economic news Later today the AiG performance of services index for March will be released and on investors’ radar.
Figures from around the globeWall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained almost 1 per cent to close at 24,264, the S&P 500 added 1.2 per cent to close at 2,645 and the NASDAQ closed up 1.5 per cent to close at 7,042.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE was up 0.1 per cent, Paris lost 0.2 per cent and Frankfurt lost 0.4 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 2.2 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.2 per cent.
Company newsPact Group Holdings
(ASX:PGH) has successfully refinanced its senior debt maturing in July 2018.
Following the refinancing, the group has total commitments of $748 million and $216 million in New Zealand dollars through its syndicated debt facitilities. That’s an increase of $40 million.
They have increased capacity with a seven year term loan facility of $120 million.
Pact Managing Directer says he is pleased with the outcome.
Pact are the largest manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging products in Australasia with a growing presence in Asia.
Shares in Pact Group Holdings
(ASX:PGH) closed 0.6 per cent lower at $5.41.
Ex dividends
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US77.17 cents, 54.80 Pence Sterling, 82.37 Yen and 62.83 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has lost $0.30 to $US1337 an ounce.
Silver has dropped $0.10 to $US16.29 an ounce.
Oil has added $0.05 to $US63.56 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading lower: Bitcoin has fallen 7.6 per cent to US$6,899, Ethereum dropped almost 8 per cent to US$382.43 and Ripple has fallen 7.8 per cent to US$0.50
