Australian shares are poised for small gains at the open today following a mixed session on Wall Street. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended the day slightly higher while the Dow came back from early losses to end the session 64 points lower. Shares of Apple, Intel and Microsoft bolstered the Dow in late trade.
After the market closed Apple beat revenue and profit expectations in its March quarter as it sold over 52 million iPhones, barely below Wall Street targets and showing resilience as global demand for smartphones wanes.
Facebook shares ended the day slightly higher after the company unveiled a new dating feature. Shares of online dating company Match sunk 22 per cent following the news.
Gold prices have continued to slide while global oil prices have fallen back by around 2 per cent.
US economic newsIn US economic data, US factory activity slowed for a second straight month in April. The ISM survey also showed a jump in the cost of raw materials. Treasury yields extended gains off the back of the results.
MarketsWall Street closed mixed yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3 per cent to close at 24,099, the S&P 500 closed 0.3 per cent higher at 2,655 and the NASDAQ gained 0.9 per cent to close at 7131.
To European markets, London’s FTSE rose 0.2 per cent while Paris and Frankfurt were closed (public holidays, possibly Labour day)
To Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.2 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite were closed.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 6pts gain. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 33 points higher at 6015.
Company news Mining equipment company Emeco
(ASX:EHL) has announced the successful completion of its institutional entitlement offer of new shares. The company raised around $77 million at 25 cents per share. Emeco hopes to raise a further $13 million through a retail offer which opens next Monday 7 May 2018. The proceeds of the capital raising will go towards the company’s $80 million dollar purchase of Matilda Equipment.
Shares in Emeco Holdings
(ASX:EHL) last traded at 28 cents they were placed on trading halt on the 30 of April for the duration of the capital raising.
Ex-dividendsAcorn Capital Investment Fund
(ASX:ACQ) is paying 2.7 cents per share fully franked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US74.89 cents, 55.05 Pence Sterling, 82.27 Yen and 62.46 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has dropped $14.60 to $US1305 an ounce.
Silver has fallen $0.22 to $US16.18 an ounce.
Oil has lost $1.07 to $US67.50 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading mixed: Bitcoin has lost 2.6 per cent to US$9054, EOS gained 1.7 per cent to US$18.00 and Ethereum has dropped 1.2 per cent to US$667.43.
