US investors were reassessing the outlook for the potential for rate hikes leading to a late sell off on Wall Street. The Australian sharemarket is set to open flat after the US negative turn. Potential US restrictions on Chinese teleco companies also reinforced investor concerns about worsening trade relations between the United States and China. Apple was the standout performer though climbing after a solid quarterly report. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged, acknowledging that inflation is close to target near the US central bank's 2 per cent target. Iron ore is up 2.3 per cent and oil is flat. The Aussie dollar dropped.
Local ecomonic newsThe Australian Industry group will release the performance of services indices for April later. And the March trade figures are due out today.
To the figures from around the globeWall Street closed lower yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.7 per cent to close at 23,925, the S&P 500 closed also 0.7 per cent lower at 2,636 and the NASDAQ fell 0.4 per cent to close at 7101.
European markets closed higher yesterday: London’s FTSE gained 0.3 per cent, Paris rose 0.2 per cent higher and Frankfurt advanced 1.5 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower: Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.3 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite closed almost flat (down 0.03 per cent.)
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 4pts gain. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 35 points higher at 6050.
Company newsIMF Bentham
(ASX:AMF) has announced the settlement of a case it funded here in Australia. It has an anticipated revenue of $2 million. The settlement of this case represents the eighth successfully completed investment in IMF’s global portfolio for FY18. The terms of the settlement are confidential and the settlement is subject to certain conditions, including court approval of the settlement, being met. IMF is one of the leading global litigation funders, headquartered in Australia and with offices in the US, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and London.
Shares in IMF Bentham
(ASX:IMF) closed 1.6 per cent lower to $2.46 yesterday.
Ex-dividendsThree companies are going ex-dividend today:
Australian Pharmaceutical industries
(ASX:API) is paying 3.5 cents fully franked.
Investment company CBG Capital
(ASX:CBC) is paying 1.5 fully franked and Waterco
(ASX:WAT) is paying 2 cents fully franked.
Currencies One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US74.96 cents, 55.22 Pence Sterling, 82.33 Yen and 62.71 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron ore futures are pointing to a 2.3 per cent gain
Gold has gained $0.40 to $US1306 an ounce.
Silver has risen $0.28 to $US16.41 an ounce.
Oil has added $0.43 to $US67.68 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading higher:
Bitcoin has gained 1.5 per cent to US$9209,
Ethereum gained 2.5 per cent to US$685,
Ripple had added 2.6 per cent to US$0.86.
