The Australian share market looks set to open higher this morning – albeit only slightly. Wall Street closed higher with the Dow rising 1 per cent with the likes of DowBuPont, Boeing and Chevron in positive territory. This was partly due to the fact that neither the US or China are wanting to fight a trade war and so negotiations are continuing. In the US, banks and retailers made some of the biggest gains.
With commodities oil is up and gold is down.
US economic news The US economy added 170,000 jobs last month, less than the 313,000 in February. It’s reported that the previous gain was probably due to unseasonably warm weather, which likely boosted construction payrolls.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures is trading 18 points higher. The Australian share market closed 27 points higher at 5789.
Figures from around the globeWall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average is 0.99 per cent higher at 24505 points, the S&P 500 rose 0.69 per cent to close at 2663 and the NASDAQ 0.49 per cent higher to close at 7077.
European markets closed higher: London’s FTSE gained 2.3 per cent, Paris added 2.62 per cent and Frankfurt 2.90 per cent higher.
Asian markets closed higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 1.53 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite were closed yesterday due to a public holiday.
Company news Super Retail Group
(ASX:SUL) has completed the acquisition of Macpac.
In February the company announced the intended acquisition for NZ$144 million.
Macpac sell hiking packs in Christchurch. They were founded in 1973. The company operates today as a vertically integrated retailed with 54 stores across Australia and New Zealand.
Super Retail Group believes there is significant opportunity to grow the group.
Shares in Super Retail Group
(ASX:SUL) closed 1.52 per cent higher yesterday at $6.70
Two companies going ex-dividend today Aberdeen Leaders
(ASX:ALR) 1.25c fully franked and Cyclopharm
(ASX:CYC) 0.5c unfranked
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:45AM was buying US76.84 cents, 54.88 Pence Sterling, 82.51 Yen and 62.80 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has lost around $10.30 to $US1330 an ounce.
Silver has gained $0.11 to $US16.36 an ounce.
Light Crude has gained $0.36 to $US63.73 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading mixed: Bitcoin has fallen 2 per cent to US$6747, TRON gained 28 per cent to 4 cents and Ethereum has fallen 1 per cent to US$377.
